Elements Of Work

The copyright law protects works. A work is an original intellectual achievement in the fields of literary, artistic or scientific works. With the development of our society, people's enthusiasm and ability to create and innovation is becoming more active. Attendantly, the problem that people's creations are works or not in copyright law arises frequently. What is the element of a work? Generally that is originality, replicability, etc. In some countries, a work is also required a stable carrier. Which results in that ice and oral work is not admitted according to the copyright law. Different countries provide different requirements in the conception of originality. Lack of consensus reflects the positions of theories are varied. More importantly, the authority of legislation and the justice of the law will have a negative impact if we doubt this issue. Nowdays, China is in the crucial period of the legal system's building. The great achievements in economic construction industry promote unprecedented prosperity of culture, and our legal do have the obligation to protect these achievements. Therefore, I discuss the elements of work; it's not seeking the way to solve this problem completely, hopefully that the problems will be described more clearly and contribute to academic research. This thesis is composed of introduction, body and conclusion. Introduction represents the significance of the topic, research status and ideas. Mainly discussing on why I choose this topic, and what the obstacle I faced, finially the structure is. Personally, studying the elements of a work is for better research. Fortunately, I can get the warmth of the natural law of the still dictionary, and I do undertand the wisdom of the old judges from the dusty rational judgments.Body is composed by three chapters. In the first chapter, the thesis discusses the conceptions around a work. As the object of the copyright law, a work is also an object of the civil law, but different from the traditional "object", the notable feature of a work is "no body but tangible", and the spread of a work is inseparable from the existence of carriers. A work is an intellectual achievement, reflecting the author's personality and property. They are all the objects of the intellectual property, but works, patents and trademarks are different. The second chapter discusses the substantial essentials of a work. It is originality, including two parts:the creatation and been complished independently. The creat intention will not affect the establishment of a work. Works must be original is not natural born with the beginning of the copyright law, but practice through a long time before setting up this golden rule. Because of different thinking basised on the law and legal traditions, the requirements of the originality are not the same. In general, the requirement of British and America law system is lower than the continental legal system. With the judgement of Feist v. Rural case, modicum of creativity built a new standard of originality; countries'requirements in the originality have become gradually the same trend. Work of the law only requires an original expression; the idea is not been required. Meantime, the copyright law only protects the expression, but not the idea of a work, which is the Dichotomy of Idea and Expression. Whether the expression is original or not, there are two criterias including the subjectivism and objectivism standard. Judging the originality of a work should adopt the standard of the combination of comprehensive analysis including the subjective and objective view. China's Copyright Law does not provide a clear conception of originality and its requirements, which question a judge too much during disputes, and reduce predictability of the court's decisions; this issue should be coped with reasonableness. In the third chapter, a work constitutes some formal essentials. Such as specific content, a certain form of expression, been fixed, replicable and have a stable carrier and so on. In the perspective of protection of copyright, Chinese law related to copyright doesn't require a stable carrier, which reflects our focus on spiritual civilization and giving maximum protection. Generally, replication includes form, perceived by the public, be copied. Based on the reasons above, I conclude that a work is the intellectual expression with specific content and being copied. Conclusion summarizes this thesis:work is an original intellectual property in the fields of literary, artistic or scientific and replicable. Important substance of a work protects the spirit of continuous innovation, which is one of the aims of intellectual property law. Formal essentials protect a work's form and spread. And a work is integrated with substancial and formal essentials.