Online Game Rules Copyright Protection

With the development of the Internet,the online game industry begins to flourish.However,while an industry has got a highly boom,a wide range of problems will also arise.Similar or even identical online games emerge one after another,which confuse online game players and also infringe the rights of the original online game developers.The most difficult problem to regulate is to copy the core rules of an online game.Due to “the Idea-Expression Dichotomy”,the game rules generally will belong to the “idea” part.Therefore,they cannot be protected by copyright law.But in practice,it may lead to an unreasonable conclusion.This paper will discuss this situation specifically.Chapter one talks about concepts related to online game rules,and does a literature review of online game rules copyright protection,believing it worth further studying.Therefore,the discussion of online game rules copyright protection has its significance.Chapter two analyzes how online game rules can get copyright protection.This paper thinks the “expression” of works can be divided into “external expression” and “internal expression”.Once online game rules satisfy two standards,novelty and materiality,they can belong to the“internal expression” of online game works and be protected by copyright law.This chapter also introduces what are novelty and materiality through case study.Chapter three discusses the implementation of online game rules proection.“Substantial similarity” should be the core and its recognized methods can be divided into “total concept and feel” and “dissection analysis”.The former is more often used to identify simple works,while the latter is more often used to identify complex works.In the last part,this paper concludes former statements,believing that online game rules shall not be simply classified into the “idea” part.Instead,when they meet the standards,they can be classified into the“internal expression” of the work and be protected by copyright law.This is good to the sustainable development of our online game market.