A Study On The Legal Issues Of Copyright Of Fan Works

In recent years,the fan works rely on network communication to have a rapid development,the related copyright disputes are also increasing.Two typical cases,Xuanting Company v.Zhang Muye's copyright infringement case and Cha Louis v.Yang Zhi's copyright infringement case,have triggered Legal thinking about copyrights of fan works.It mainly includes three aspects: unclear legal status of fan works,conflict of copyright between fan works and original works,and the system of fair use of copyright in China is difficult to apply to fan works.At present,there is no clear definition of fan works.Under the framework of copyright law in China,"fan works" is defined as original works created by fans who borrow the creative elements of the original works for re-creation.Based on the different degree of reliance on the original works,it can be divided into deductive fan works and non-deductive fan works.In other words,the deductive fan works refer to works that borrow the creative elements of original works to reproduce and follow the basic expressions of original works,which are different from original works and have originality.The non-deductive fan works refer to works that do not borrow the creative elements of original works to reproduce and follow the basic expressions of original works,which are totally different from the original works and have originality.At this stage,it is necessary to protect fan works by copyright law.The fan works conform to the essential elements and formal elements of a work and the legislative purposes of copyright law."The conflict of copyright between the fan works and the original works" is an obstacle to the exercise of copyright.The copyright conflict can be divided into two types: the author's personal rights and the property rights.The deductive fan works are the deduction of the original works,while non-deductive fan works are the original works of the creator.Therefore,the conflict of this right is aimed at the deductive fan works.Based on the theory of " Dichotomy of Ideological Expressions ",it is known that the copyright conflict between the deductive fan works and the original worksis rooted in whether the borrowed creative elements are copyrightable or not.The future development trend of fan works from the perspective of copyright law includes the following three aspects: Firstly,fan works should be reasonably positioned in the copyright law of our country.In view of deductive fan works,we should apply the relevant provisions of deductive works,and non-deductive fan works should be regarded as original works to be protected by the Copyright Law.Secondly,the relationship between deductive fan works and fair use system should be clarified.Finally,within the framework of the existing legal system,we use the traditional collective management system of copyright to regulate creative activities reasonably,so as to solve the problem that it is difficult for fan works to obtain authorization from the original copyright owner.