Study On The Copyright Of The Works Of Architecture

In the Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China (2001Amendment),“Works”mentioned shall include works in nine specific forms, consisiting of works of architecture.Moreover, in the Regulations for the Implementation of the Copyright Law of the People’sRepublic of China, meanings and the scope of protection were clearly defined for works ofarchitecture. However, works of architecture, with both artistic creativity and practicalfunctionality, has its complicated and special property. In terms of the protecting system forcopyright in works of architecture, there is a wide gap between China and other foreigncountries. The Chinese system, which is still at a developmental stage, is much simpler inlaw-making stipulation, with less practicability.In this paper, fundamental principles of the Copyright Law are used to analyse how toprotect the copyright of works of architecture, referring to legislations and judicial experiencefor protecting within the international agreement and other foreign countries, esp. those insuch developed countries as United States of America, on the base of the meanings incopyright of works of architecture, characters of law, scope of protecting, standards ofjudgement for originality, and relief in tort. Finally, superficial proposals are offered to thereconsitution of protecting the copyright of works of architecture in China, by quoting specialmodern cases to analyse the deficiencies in copyright protecting.