The Identification Of The Computer Software Copyright Infringement

With the rapid development of technology, especially the advances in computersoftware technology, software functions are increasingly beyond the imagination.With the development of the Internet, computer software has changed the life ofhuman beings in modern society. Computer software represents the main features ofthe information era. In aspects of life, it generates a variety of new forms ofentertainment and information communication, and continues to create rich spiritualproducts; In aspects of work, the way people work has been changed and workefficiency has been improved by software’s powerful information processingcapabilities and so on. Moreover, software industry can create considerable economicbenefits for the community each year, and play a pivotal role in various sectors of acountry. This makes computer software infringement occurring much more frequentlyand results in a wide range of forms of infringement. Firstly, rampant software piracyactivities would harm the interests of software developers, then would blow theirenthusiasm and innovation of software technology, finally the development ofsoftware industry is in the doldrums and harmful to the interests of the whole society.Therefore, in order to protect the legal rights of computer software infringement, howto identify the computer software infringement has become a major problem.Most of the countries, including China, are based on copyright law to protectcomputer software works. At the beginning, Copyright Law was developed for theprotection of Literary and Artistic Works and other written works. But most ofcomputer software is gradually developed in recent decades, and is very differentfrom traditional works. Therefore, this paper mainly discusses the standards and thespecial features of the software copyright Infringement identification from the specialfeatures of software works and infringement at first. Finally, on the basis of existingtheories the author put forward some ideas for infringement identification. Here’s abrief introduction: The software works itself both has the features of the general works, and somespecial features which are different from the general works. It decides infringement ofsoftware works would be very different from that of the general works. Softwareworks have many rights to be protected on copyright. The software infringementcases that actually occurred, involve the most complex infringement behavior that issoftware copying behavior and modifying behavior. This is the main aspect of thisstudy. Our legislation does not provide the methods and concrete steps ofidentification of software copyright infringements. When the author analyses theidentification of software copyright infringements from the general to the specificangles, the general principle and different standards of copyright infringement mustbe always required to be complied with. Two more special issues are discussed,Reverse-Engineer and End-User infringement of software copyright infringement. Oncopyright law, the principle of distinction of thought and expression is generallyapplicable to the software works. Of course, the software works is also divided intothought and expression. However, there are some forms of its expression in both thetext and non-text portions. Also the text portions of software works are very differentfrom that of general works. These special features of software works require thatwhen different standards of "Abstraction Method " and "Substantial Similarity andContact" principles are applied, we should take into account the different aspects ofthe specific implementation details in order to ensure the correct application of thelaw. Both standards are aimed at the identification of the infringements. In theidentification process, the first step is to exclude the idea of software works. The"Abstraction Method" can help distinguishing thought and expression, and"Substantial Similarity and Contact" principle can compare the specific expression oftwo software in order to determine whether the behavior is infringement. These twostandards are not independent from each other, and have some cross-relationships, butthey can be integrated to accurately identify infringements. There are a lot of specialproblems in the software infringements that need special identification. For example,Reverse-Engineering and End-User infringement. Not only consider the softwarecopying behavior and the commercial nature of the behavior and other factors in the process of software infringement, but also according to " the principle of distinctionof thought and expression " and "the principle of balance of interests" on thecopyright law to analyze the relevant legislation in our country and how to identifyinfringements of this case.