Copyright Protection Of Works Of Applied Art

Works of applied art is the kind of works protected by Berne Conventioncombining usability and aesthetics as a whole, the copyright of which is protected indifferent countries in diversity levels. A number of items in daily life can be classifiedas works of applied art, and many disputes also arouse related to such objects injudicial practice. Given that the current Copyright Law of China kept silent on theprotection of works of applied art, similar works are tend to be protected referring tofine arts. In2011, the State Council initiated the third revision of copyright law andthe National Copyright Administration Office has formulated the revised draft ofcopyright law. The formulation will impose certain influence on the protection ofworks of applied art of China.This article is comprised of three parts respective are preface, body text andepilogue.The preface section describes the background of this writing and the origin ofworks of applied art, discusses the necessity of the copyright protection for works ofapplied art. The preface also includes the introduction of worldwide protection forworks of applied art.The text consists of four chapters.Chapter1focuses on the general issues on the protection of works of applied art, figuring out the status of works of applied art in China’s Copyright Law via case study.In a relatively long period, due to the lack of legislation, some items meeting therequirements of works of applied art have not been duly protected, and some works isconsidered to be protected only when satisfying the elements of the fine arts. Theamendments made in the Revised Draft define works of applied and fine arts as twoseparate objects, applying different protection period, in both legislation and practicelevel.Chapter2described the primary factor of works of applied art, namely thepractical level and artistic level shall be separated. Since Copyright law does notprotect the utility function, it should be avoided to extend the protection of works ofapplied art from its artistic level to the practical level.Chapter3analyzed the originality requirements of works of applied art by casestudy. Due to the differences in nature and the creation process, the degree of theoriginality varies in different objects. China’s copyright law and legal practice didn’tspecify the degree of originality of the works of applied art. Comparing all existingopinions, the article hold that the originality of works of applied shall at least conformto the standards of general fine arts, however may less required in its aesthetic aspect.Chapter4researched the overlapping protection relating to copyright and otherforms of right. One item has the appropriate characteristics can be applied to theprotection of copyright, trademark and patent, which is a result of legislation defect aswell as the complicated status quo. For avoidance of duplication protection, the articleheld that the boundaries of the two kinds of protection should be further clarified byinvolving separability standard and industrial elements..