Inspiration is not infringement

Features in a coin-operated arcade game ‘Pocket Money’inspired similar features in subsequent coin-operated games‘Jackpot Pool’ and ‘Trick Shot’, butdid not amount to copyright infringement as they did not forma substantial part of the original game.     

著作出租权研究

我国著作权法虽已明确规定出租权是著作权人独立的一项财产权,但规定尚不完善。研究著作权出租理论,比较国际条约和各国出租权制度立法,对于完善著作权人的权利保护,协调著作权人与作品使用人之间的利害关系,并寻求解决该问题的最佳途径具有极为重要的现实意义。     

论续写作品的著作权保护

分析了续写作品的特性:对原作品的依附性,包括对原作内容和篇名上的依附性、名气上的依附性;自身的独创性:独创性是其最本质的特征,是续写者独立思考独立创新的结果,续写作品与原作品之间有实质性差异,与原作品是可以分离的。并在此基础上指出,续写作品是对原作品的合理使用,并没有侵犯原作者的著作权,应当受到著作权法的保护。     

Copyright Infringement in a Borderless World - Does Territoriality Matter? Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v Canadian Association of Internet Providers [2004] 2 SCR 427

The recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Societyof Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v CanadianAssociation of Internet Providers [2004] 2 SCR 427 is significantfor two reasons: (a) the Canadian Supreme Court held that InternetService Providers should be exempted from copyright liabilityas long as they provide only a conduit service in transmittingcopyright materials between Internet users (a point which isconsistent with many national copyright laws); (b) the majorityof the Canadian Supreme Court arrived at the conclusion thatthe appropriate test to determine whether an infringement forthe unauthorized transmission of online copyright material hasoccurred within the Canadian jurisdiction is the ‘realand substantial connection’ test (LeBel J, however, dissentedand was of the view that the correct test to apply is the ‘hostserver’ test). This paper studies these two tests as propoundedby the Canadian Supreme Court and assesses their strengths andweaknesses, especially in light of the territoriality principlein copyright law.     

South African Supreme Court rules on copyright in software and computer-generated works

The South African Supreme Court of Appeal considers a numberof fundamental issues concerning copyright protection of computerprograms and computer-generated works; in doing so, the courtanalyses a number of basic copyright principles, notably themeaning of originality and the meaning of ‘substantialtaking’ in infringement cases.     

论民间文学艺术版权主体制度之构建

民间文学艺术是集体创造物,以浪漫主义为基础的个人作者观被认为是构建民间文学艺术版权保护制度的最大障碍。版权作者观经历了从普通工匠到创作天才、从个人主义到集体主义与个人主义相结合的演变过程。民间文学艺术来源群体和以自然人为主的传承人享有民间文学艺术版权,这与现代版权制度中个人与集体相结合的二元主体结构具有契合性。运用法定代理制度可以解决因民间文学艺术来源群体民事行为能力欠缺带来的权利主体虚位的世界性难题。     

论境外影视作品版权的二元保护

原《著作权法》第4条规定＂依法禁止出版、传播的作品,不受本法保护＂。该规定对境外影视作品未予以充分保护,不仅违背了＂版权自动取得＂原则,而且招徕版权国际纠纷。中美争端案让我们开始反思境外影视作品的保护模式,并加快了对境外影视作品保护的研究进程。本文对一元版权保护模式作出了反思,并以二元理论为视角对境外影视作品的版权及其保护作出论证。希冀在二元保护模式下提高对境外影视作品法律保护的能力,减少版权国际纠纷,促进我国版权国际化的发展。     

Legal reflections on the Google Print Library Project

Legal context. IP lawyers need a better understanding of theimplications of new technology when advising their clients onlegal strategies for appropriating rents from the exploitationof intellectual property rights in the digital environment.Conversely, clients seeking to ascertain the permissible limitsfor accessing material on the Internet must be made aware ofthe critical distinction between contractual and copyright issues. Key points. Licensing of copyright will continue to be an efficientinstrument for resolving issues relating to compensation andboundaries for permissible use. A sound understanding of thedigital environment will ensure that potential problems associatedwith the scope of the restricted acts under the Copyright, Designsand Patents Act 1988 can be avoided. Lawyers should also beaware of the possible policy developments relating to the exploitationof digital content following the deliberations in the GowersReview. Lawyers should also re-examine the submissions in boththe Grokster and Perfect 10 cases, recognizing the circumstanceswhen copyright arguments raised in other jurisdictions may beimported into the United Kingdom. Practical significance. The absence of any UK legal precedentwith regard to the copyright issues arising from the disputebetween search engine providers and copyright owners providesno excuse for failing to consider how contractual instrumentsmay efficiently resolve issues relating to the appropriationof rents from intellectual property rights. The absence of a‘fair dealing’ exception does not inevitably meanthat, should a similar dispute as that in Google v The Author'sGuild arise in the United Kingdom, a copyright infringementwill have taken place.     

关于著作出租权制度探讨

研究著作出租权理论,比较国际条约和各国出租权制度立法,对完善著作权人的权利保护,协调著作权人与作品使用人之间的利害关系并寻求解决问题的最佳途径,完善我国著作权制度,促进与国际趋势的接轨都具有重要的意义。     

单字形体设计的著作权保护

单字形体设计是一种创作,属于美术作品。汉字的基本构造是用来传递信息的,具有实用性。单字的形体设计如果是在汉字基本构造的基础上所做的个性设计,这种设计区别于汉字基本构造传递信息的实用性,在具备原创性的时候,能够获得著作权保护。对单字形体设计赋予著作权保护可能带来的不利后果可以通过完善著作权的权能设置和著作权限制制度加以克服。     

Kant, Copyright and Communicative Freedom

The rapid recent expansion of copyright law worldwide has sparked efforts to defend the ‘public domain’ of non-propertized information, often on the ground that an expansive public domain is a condition of a ‘free culture’. Yet questions remain about why the public domain is worth defending, what exactly a free culture is, and what role (if any) authors’ rights might play in relation to it. From the standard liberal perspective shared by many critics of copyright expansionism, the protection of individual expression by means of marketable property rights in authors’ works serves as an engine of progress towards a fully competitive ‘marketplace of ideas’ – though only if balanced by an extensive public domain from which users may draw in the exercise of their own expressivity. This article shows that a significantly different, and arguably richer, conception of what a free culture is and how authors’ rights underpin it emerges from a direct engagement with the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. For Kant, progress towards a fully emancipated (i.e. a ‘mature’ or ‘enlightened’) culture can only be achieved through the critical intellectual activity that public communication demands: individual expressive freedom is only a condition, not constitutive, of this ‘freedom to make public use of one’s reason in all matters’. The main thesis defended in this article is that when Kant’s writings on publicity (critical public debate) are read in relation to his writings on the legal organization of publishing, a necessary connection emerges between authors’ rights – as distinct from copyrights – and what Jürgen Habermas and others have named the public sphere. I conclude that it is the public sphere, and not the public domain as such, that should serve as the key reference point in any evaluation of copyright law’s role in relation to the possibility of a free culture.     

论汇编作品的著作权

汇编作品是对现有作品和资料在不改变原作内容的情况下进行选题、筛拔并加以编排组合而成的作品，受我国著作权法的保护。汇编作品与其他作品有着不同的创作方式，编辑人员是汇编作品的组织者和策划人，编辑人员为汇编作品而创作出新的作品，编辑人员对汇编作品的版面编排付出了匠心。汇编作品中各篇独立文章享有著作权，而作为整体的汇编作品的著作权由汇编人享有。汇编作品的著作权源于汇编人的创造性，汇编作品之汇编者的著作权主要有发表权、署名权、版式、装帧设计专有使用权、取得经济报酬权等。     

论著作权合理使用制度的适用范围

由于合理使用处在权利与限制的交界处,其适用范围的任何变化,都可能重塑著作权法。面对新技术的冲击,在确定合理使用的适用范围时,不能因技术的便利而干涉著作权市场对信息资源的配置,而应恪守合理使用最初的立法理由,将其定位为对市场失灵的弥补,在利用行为有助于公共利益的基础上,考察其是否符合交易不能或正外部性市场失灵,同时把对作品潜在市场的影响视为最关键的判断标准。这不但维护了著作权的私权属性,更是界定合理使用适用范围的最佳路径。     

US Appeals Court invalidates retroactive assignments of copyrights

A unanimous panel of the US Court of Appeals for the SecondCircuit held that a ‘retroactive’ assignment ofownership from a co-author of a copyright to an alleged infringercannot defeat the other co-author's accrued infringement claims.The court also held that a written agreement could not ‘ratify’an earlier oral agreement to transfer ownership.     

The legal and technological battle in the music industry: Information-push versus information-pull technologies

Peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies are often seen as a threat by copyright owners because they encourage piracy by making digital copies easier to obtain. In response, major record companies have come up with new devices designed to protect original material, and lobbied to reinforce legal protection. We view traditional distribution as an information-push technology in which the firm pays to provide information to consumers and P2P as an information-pull technology where consumers spend resources to acquire information on products they have a potential interest in by searching, downloading and testing digital copies of original products before they make their purchase decision. We determine copyright owners’ protection strategies according to the level of legal protection, and we study their effects on profits and consumers’ surplus with the two different information transmission technologies.     

Money for nothing and your MP3s for free

The judgment of the Federal Court of Australia (‘the Court’)in Universal Music is the first judicial pronouncement in Australiaon the legality of website operators who provide hyperlinksto remote websites to allow ‘internauts’ (web users)to download MP3 music files and the liability of internet serviceproviders (ISPs) and their employees for authorizing that infringementunder Australian copyright law.     

Video-sharing website finds safe harbour from copyright infringement

A California federal district court ruled that a video-sharingwebsite was not liable for copyright infringement because itfell within a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (‘DMCA’)safe harbour.     

Armani found to infringe copyright of Dutch shoe designer

In preliminary relief proceedings against the Italian fashionhouse of Armani, the Dutch court allowed copyright protectionfor a shoe ‘that is almost no shoe’, but deniedthe requested rectification because of the publicity alreadygenerated by the case.     

开发数字电视机顶盒共享器的知识产权问题解析——兼谈数字电视业务的反垄断法规制

数字电视机顶盒是保护视听节目内容与信号的一种版权技术措施,但＂一机一盒＂技术措施的合法性应受反垄断法的审查。开发节约资费型共享器可适用著作权保护的＂个人使用＂例外;开发独立选台型共享器及用于酒店等经营性场所的共享器将构成版权侵权。对机顶盒内部的半导体及程序进行反向工程的行为可能会侵犯机顶盒原始创新权利人的知识产权。以机顶盒业务为例,反垄断法的功能与价值在知识产权领域应受到重视。     

版权法上的公共领域研究

Public domain is a core rule of copyright law, under which various creative materials are available for an author to use without charge or liability for infringement, hence ensuring the effective implementation of copyright law. Public domain is characterized by openness, public ownership, irrevocability and formality. Based on the premise that the author’s work will not be interfered, public domain ultimately aims at the enlargement of its own universe and prosperity of the culture of human society. Its introduction into copyright law satisfies both historical and logical demands. Without its acknowledgement, copyright cannot be justified. In that sense, public domain and copyright can be deemed as twins. Public domain is not only an existing institution, but also an ideological tendency or a methodology. It has evaluative and inspective values towards copyright. It is an important precondition of copy-rights, and what is more, an important measure for controlling the expansion and realizing the purpose of copyright. Huang Hui, Ph.D, is a lecturer of civil law at Southwest University of Political Science and Law. Till now, he has released over 20 research articles in academic journals in China, such as Modern Law Science, Legal Forum, Academic Forum, etc. His magnum opus includes: Legal Philosophy Exposition of Unreasonable Outstretch in Intellectual Property Rights, Interpretation & Transfer: An exposition of de-intelligence of intellectual property rights, research on the protection of works in public domain, etc.