Legal Protection Of Virtual Characters' Merchandising Rights And Interests In China

With the development of market economy,the merchandising of virtual characters has become a very common phenomenon.Famous virtual characters have broad appeal and strong market power,and some commodity producers has gained huge economic benefits by secondary development and utilization of these characters.However,under our current intellectual property law system,such kind of commercial utilization is hardly regulated by the copyright law,trademark law or other relevant laws.The judicial decisions often lack of stability and persuasion in dealing with such disputes.From the worldwide,merchandising rights still have not been generally accepted in national legislation,in fact,most countries provide limited,dispersed protection by personality law,copyright law,trademark law,anti-unfair competition law or other legal system.Some scholars advocate to give comprehensive protection by the copyright law,trademark law and anti-unfair competition law,but there are many scholars who advocate to set up an independent merchandising rights' system.The author thinks that currently our optimal selection is to combine our own condition with actual situation,keeping the stability of the existing law and avoiding great changes in the original system,while at the same time providing more comprehensive and effective protection for the merchandising of virtual characters.Based on modern American legislation and judicial practices,the author is in favor of highlighting the anti-unfair competition law protection under the comprehensive protection mode.By modifying and improving the current "anti-unfair competition law",such as expanding the scope of subjects and act of unfair competition,confirming protection conditions,giving more comprehensive and effective legal protection for virtual characters' merchandising.