Research On The Copyright Of Fan Works

Fan works are new works with originality which borrow elements such as the character's name,image,personality trait and character relationship from famous works.With the development of the diversification of types,its economic value is improved.The copyright rules of fan works are not perfect.In judicatory practice,it's difficult to find a legal basis for infringement judgment.This article intends to make a discussion in detail.Firstly,this article introduces the historical evolution,development,concepts and types of fan works.Fan works,which is different from plagiarism,meet the originality standards.According to the degree of dependence on the original works,it can be divided into deductive and non-deductive fan works.Secondly,introduce the realistic dilemma of copyright protection of fan works.It is difficult to determine whether borrowing elements are protected by copyright law or fair use.By analyzing typical cases of fan works,find out that the judgment standards of different courts for infringement of fan works are inconsistent.The main theories of the regulation of fan works are discussed,including the "Creative Commons"agreement,the commercialization of fictional characters,and the unfair competition.All of them have deficiencies to resolve the conflicts of property rights of fan works.Thirdly,discuss whether fan works infringe the authorship,the right of integrity and derivative.It points out that the essence of the conflict is the interest game and the balance of interests of two copyright owners.To resolve the conflict of authorship rights,authors are required to indicate the source of the borrowed original works on obvious position In order to protect the right of integrity,we can initiate the formulation of the"Guidelines for the creation of fan works",so that fans can follow social morality and industry standards.Finally,this article forwards the proposal of copyright law and regulation for the creation and use of fan works.For the deductive fan works,the concept of deductive works can be added in the revision of the Copyright Law,and the legal status of its dual attributes should be clarified.The rights should be subject to the copyright owners both of the original works and fan works.For non-deductive fan works,it is recommended to add a general rule for the fair use judgment,and explicitly grant the fictional role copyright protection when the copyright law is revised or the judicial interpretation is issued by the Supreme Court.Relatively strict standards should be adopted for visual non-deductive fan works,and their publications should be authorized by the copyrnght holders of the original works.As for fan fiction,a more tolerant attitude can be adopted.Authorization and payment are required only by borrowing fully described fictional characters and commercial use.