Study On Fair Use Of The Images Of Online Games In The Live Broadcast

The current mainstream view is that online game screens have the attributes of works and can be identified as "class movie works." The live broadcast of the game is the dissemination of the online game screen and should be controlled by the exclusive rights of the copyright owner.In practice,there is still much controversy about whether the live online game screen constitutes a reasonable use.Fair use is a restriction on the rights of copyright owners,and its purpose is to seek a balance of interests between the individual and the public.For the judgment of fair use,the "three-step test" in the copyright conventions and the "four elements" standard in the US copyright law are currently available internationally.China's "Copyright Law" has adopted specific enumeration provisions for rational use.However,the specific enumeration provisions have been unable to meet the needs of technological development and the requirements of judicial practice.Drawing on the open-ended legislation of foreign countries,refining the general judgment criteria for rational use is an inevitable trend in the future development of legislation.The online game screen has the property of the work to explore the premise that the game live broadcast can constitute a reasonable use.Large-scale online games that are popular nowadays often have beautiful pictures and can be fixed on a certain medium by certain technical equipment.Therefore,the online game screen satisfies the requirements of China's "Copyright Law" for the originality and reproducibility of the work,and should be recognized as a work.The issue of the ownership of the copyright of the game screen cannot be generalized.In the online game game screens such as competition and strategy,the player's originality contribution is low,so the game screen copyright should belong to the game copyright owner.Online games with "sandbox" nature such as adventures and plots reserve a large original space for players,and their game screens can fully demonstrate the player's intellectual innovation.Therefore,the copyright of such game screens should be determined by the degree of contribution of different subjects to the originality of the screen.Before the large-scale e-sports event,the event organizer usually authorizes the designated live broadcast platform or uses its own platform for live broadcast.The use of such live broadcasts is governed by a license agreement and is outside the scope of this article.The real-time broadcast of the aforementioned live broadcasts,that is,the "piracy" behavior necessarily constitutes infringement,and is not part of the discussion in this article.Therefore,in addition to live broadcasts of games having a "sandbox" nature such as plots,the use of game screens by personal live broadcasts can be considered reasonable.First,the live video has content and purpose conversion.Secondly,the game live broadcast market does not belong to the expected market of game copyright owners,and will not cause serious damage to the interests of copyright owners.Finally,the identification of the use of game screens by individuals as a reasonable use helps to stimulate creativity,promote the development of the cultural industry,and provide more employment options.In practice,attention should be paid to distinguishing between live broadcasts of the platform and personal live broadcasts,live drama games,and live broadcasts of competitive games.