Research On Copyrightable Of Software User Interface

In the era of rapid development of the software industry,the functional differences between similar software gradually reduced,software user interface has become the focus of research and development of software to attract users.However,the copyright law as the most important law of software protection,it seems difficult when protecting the software user interface.There are many issues worthy of further study,such as,whether the copyright protection of the software user interface is necessary,what are the dilemmas of the software user interface copyright protection and how to work out.Discussion on these issues,will be beneficial to the theory and practice of copyright protection for software user interface.This article attempts to take The Beijing DaoShi Network Technology Co.Ltd.v.Hubei Broadcasting and TV Station and Wuhan ZhuoXun Information Technology Co.software copyright infringement dispute case as an example,to analyze the copyright problems involved in the software user interface with theory and case combined.This paper is divided into four parts.The first part is case description and the analysis of controversy.By combing the case to find out the main dispute of the case.1.Whether the user interface of the allegedly infringing software constitutes a violation of the copyright of the plaintiff's computer software.2.Whether the plaintiff's software user interface and its text and icons should be protected by copyright law.These lead to my thinking on why and how to protect the software user interface in copyright.The second part is about the necessity of software user interface copyright protection.This part analyzes the present situation of software user interface and its intellectual property protection system.To make up for the defects of the software user interface intellectual property protection system,need the role of copyright law.Because China's design patents do not contain some of the partial design,and Software user interface is difficult to be identified as commodity packaging decoration of the anti-unfair competition law.The third part is the dilemma of software user interface copyright protection.This part analyzes the reasons for the difficulty of the software user interface for copyright protection by combining concrete cases.These reasons are mainly included,1.Software copyright does not protect the software user interface but the code and documentation.2.The software user interface is both idea and expression,it makes the application of idea and expression dichotomy difficult.3.A large number of software user interfaces failed to obtain copyright,because considered limited to the expression or other software with its compatibility needs.4.There are views believe that the software user interface can not be protected even if it meets the originality requirements,because of its usefulness.The last part puts forward the idea of software user interface copyright protection for the third part of the content.First of all,should face up the expressivity of the software user interface,because it's the basis for obtaining copyright protection.Secondly,the user interface of each software is more and more distinctive,less user interface should be considered limited to the expression.And the compatible design is the market competition behavior,it has nothing to do with whether the software user interface copyright protection.Thirdly,the software user interface is only a digital form of the corresponding work,should not deny its originality because of its practicability.Finally,the author has inspired from the analysis of the webpage copyright,point out that various elements of the software user interface can be used as works of text,works of art and other types to protect,and the composition of the various elements may constitute compilation works or film-like works.