Research On The Copyright Protection Of Computer Chinese Fonts

In digital revolution, the Chinese character becomes in digital from in physical, but there are some problems during the development. The most important of the problems is that the copyright protection of computer fonts. A series of computer font infringement leads to an issue of the copyright protection of computer font in legal scholars and researchers, which there are various views and opinions. Compared with the common writing and artistic work, the computer font is particular. It has not only the useful function that passes information and share emotion, but also appears strongly artistic. So the computer combines the utilitarian aspects and artistic aspects. In digital age, the computer font is closely related public interest which is most widely and high frequency used during the ordinary course of the composition of texts. But the current development of Chinese computer font industry is facing difficulties which many piracy, heavy losses of typeface design company and the shortages of typeface workers. So in such background to analyze the copyright protection of the Chinese computer font, we should consider the properties of the computer font, the development of the computer font industry and the public font requirements on the basis of the theory of copyright law and our current copyright policy. Therefore the thesis has six parts:PartⅠintroduces two typical tort cases of computer font to lead to the copyright protection of computer font problems.PartⅡanalyzes some basic concepts. Due to the confusion of the computer font, I first clear the definition of computer font and other related concepts.PartⅢanalyzes the copyright protection of computer fonts on the aspects of the theory of copyright law, including the useful article and original. On the theory of conceptual separability of the design elements, the artistic aspects of the computer font can separate from the utilitarian aspects, and the separable article satisfies the original. Therefore the computer font can be protection by the copyright laws.PartⅣanalyzes the copyright protection of computer fonts on the aspects of the copyright policy. Whether protects an article or not finally is the choice of the copyright policy, the computer font is the same. The industry development of the computer font and the public font requirements are the main considerations of the copyright protection of computer fonts on the copyright policy.PartⅤintroduces the other countries’ legal provisions and judicial practices about the copyright protection of computer font. Overall, the computer font can be protected by the copyright laws, but every county has different laws depending on the country’s actual situation.PartⅥprovides some legal advices about the copyright protection of Chinese computer font, including: the Chinese computer font can be works of applied art, raise the originality criterion of computer fonts, limit the copyright owners’ rights.