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By Ding Xianjie and Steven Yao Tang Lei King and Wood Mallesons’ Dispute Resolution Group

(1) Chaozhou Ge Lan Te Clothes Ltd. vs. Haochang Ltd. (Jiangxi High Court, No.19, 2007)

In this case, the Plaintiff not only brought a claim for protection of copyright, but also sought protection under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. The Court of first instance held that generally a ‘well-known commodity’, should be identified based on the following elements: Familiarity of the disputed commodity to the relevant public, the timing, sales amount and percentage of market coverage of that commodity sold in the market, the extent of advertisement promotion, the scale of capital investment, the scope of geographical distribution, and authoritative awards received by the commodity, etc.
Continue Reading Protecting of Works of Applied Art under Chinese Judicial Practice(II)

By Ding Xianjie and Steven Yao Tang Lei King and Wood Mallesons’ Dispute Resolution Group

I. “Works of applied art” as defined under Chinese law

Under Chinese law, the term “works of applied art” originates from the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the “Berne Convention”), in which Article 2 and Article 7 state that all signatory countries should give at least a 25-year protection to works of applied art. After China joined the Berne Convention, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China promulgated the Provisions on the Implementation of the International Copyright Treaties in 1992 (the “1992 Provision”), in which Article 6 provides that the term of protection for foreign works of applied art shall be 25 years, commencing from the creation of the works. Other than the 1992 Provision, the term “works of applied art” is not mentioned in any law or regulation, including the Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “Copyright Law”) and its implementing regulations.
Continue Reading Protecting of Works of Applied Art under Chinese Judicial Practice(I)

By Sun Mingfei King & Wood Mallesons’ Dispute Resolution Group, Guangzhou Office

As Chinese courts rarely accept copyright disputes concerning computer user interfaces, the case of Shenzhen TP-LINK Technologies Co., Ltd vs. Shenzhen Tenda Technology Co., Ltd and Zhang Yabo (the "TP-LINK Case") represents a significant precedent in dealing with similar cases. It is highly controversial even for copyright or computer experts to answer questions such as whether computer user interfaces are under the protection of China’s Copyright Law or how to judge originality of a work in the case.Continue Reading Landmark Copyright Case on Computer User Interfaces

作者：孙明飞 金杜律师事务所争议解决组，广州办公室

中国法院极少受理计算机用户操作界面著作权纠纷案件，深圳市普联技术有限公司诉深圳市吉祥腾达科技有限公司、张亚波侵犯计算机用户操作界面著作权纠纷上诉案，对于同类案件的处理有着重要的参考价值。计算机用户操作界面是否属著作权法中所称的作品，如何界定作品的独创性？这些问题在司法实践中属于新生事物，几乎没有太多经验可以借鉴，研究版权的专家学者甚至计算机领域的专家对此也分歧很大。Continue Reading 侵犯计算机用户操作界面著作权纠纷案评析