Computer Font Issues Of Copyright Protection

In recent years there are many computer fonts infringement cases in China,Similar cases are ended with different results, which causes many disputes in thetheoretical circles and academic circles. At present, the protection of the computerfonts’ intellectual property rights has not been clearly defined in China, a lot ofcontroversy related to copyright infringement of computer fonts still exist in academicresearch and judicial practice, the disputes focus on several areas: computer font iscomputer software or works of Art? The computer font should be protected bycopyright law? The single computer font word should be regarded as art works andprotected by the copyright law? In this paper, the author thinks the typeface should beregarded as works of arts, and the computer font character is just the results of thecomputer programme, and it shall not have copyright. Through the analysis of thecomputer fonts related judicial precedents, the illustration of the development ofcomputer fonts industry and the study of the relevant copyright laws and regulations,the author tries to illustrate the necessity of computer font copyright protection;paying attention to the reality that there are a lot of chaos in the computer fontindustry, to illustrate that the computer font copyright should have some certainrestrictions; with the comparison of the computer font copyright protection mode indifferent countries and combination with the present situation, put forward advices forpromoting the healthy development of computer font industry and strengthening theprotection of copyright, i.e. promoting the healthy development of the computer fontindustry through government procurement, standard management,.The article isdivided into four parts: the first part, through the analysis on the legal issues of thecomputer font cases, to explore the computer font protection problems in practice; thesecond part, a comparative analysis of Chinese and foreign development status andcopyright protection circumstances in computer font industry, provide reference forthe perfection of the system of our country; the third part, through legal analysis, putforward my view that the computer font should be protected as computer programmewithin reasonable limits, typeface should be protected as art works; the fourth part,suggestions of strengthening the right protection of computer font industry, promotethe development of the computer font industry,balance the interests between the fontsenterprise, fonts users and the social public through perfecting legislation, standardmanagement, government procurement and law enforcement。...