(Yicai Global) May 25 -- FAW-Volksagen Audi has managed to wriggle out of an embarrassing copyright infringement scandal, when the Audi joint venture between China’s FAW Group and Germany’s Volkswagen was accused of plagiarism in its latest car commercial, and has obtained the rights for free.

‘Beida Mange,’ a blogger on the Chinese version of TikTok called Douyin, has authorized the use of his work without charge in an ad commissioned by FAW-VW Audi and delivered by UK advertising agency M&C Saatchi that turned out to be heavily based on a video the social media influencer produced a year ago.

“Of course I will not charge for it,” Beida Mange said yesterday. “I am not out for commercial gain. I hope this incident will make people put more value on original content.”

The ad, which features Hong Kong movie star Andy Lau and revolves around a period in the lunar calendar called Xiaoman, garnered five million likes on social media platforms after its debut last weekend. But within 24 hours of being released, Beida Mange said the content was highly similar to his own work and the script was identical in sone places.

The blunder was deemed ‘unbelievable’ by industry insiders and Audi was quick to apologize and withdraw the video. London-based M&C Saatchi also admitted culpability, saying its team had a lack of copyright awareness.

Representatives from both firms have apologized to Beida Mange in person, and he accepts the apology, he said.

Editor: Kim Taylor