Copyright Protection Of Electronic Games’ Rules

Game rules are the core parts of electronic games and also take part as the engine of electronic games’ stories.As the computer science and technology highly mature,infringing has became more and more easier.A huge amout of "Electronic Game Clones"have been successful in replicating the rules of existing games on the market.Firstly,this paper gives the definition of the rules of electronic games,states the importance of the rules for electronic games,and points out that the current situation of the protection of the rules of electronic games in China is not optimistic.For example,in the case of"Hearthstone Legend"in 2014,the obligee’s request for the court to protect the rules of the game has not been supported.Then it discusses why the rules of electronic games can be protected by copyright.From the perspective of copyright,it is not excluded from the scope of protection by copyright law,but also can meet the requirements of copyright law for the protection of objects.From the perspective of law and economics.the protection of rules of electronic games is beneficial to the industry and the people.Then,it discusses what kind of works the rules of electronic games are to be protected,and analyses the feasibility of the rules of electronic games requesting protection with text works,computer softvware and telegraphic works.It points out that the better way is still to request protection with text works or telegraphic works.Furthermore,it studies how to distinguish the protectable expressions from the rules of electronic games and unprotectable idea.This paper mainly uses literature analysis,case analysis,generalization and observation as analysis methods.Among them,the literature analysis method is mainly used to analyze the publication of predecessors,the case analysis method is mainly used to analyze relevant cases,and the observation method is mainly used to extract research data from video games and generalization used as supplement and support.