Research On The Protection Of Graphic User Interface Design

In 2014,Decree 68 of the State Intellectual Property Office incorporated the graphical user interface into the protection object of design patents,and made adaptive adjustments to key points in the process of patent application and examination.Up to now,the number of such design applications in China has exceeded 40,000.However,due to the special nature of the graphical user interface,there are many discomforts under the existing design system framework.China's graphical user interface protection has a very important relationship with the definition of "product" scope.Under the traditional concept,the scope of the "product" of a design is limited to tangible products.Taking the judgment of infringement as an example,according to the tangible product theory,there is no regulation that others only provide users with the same interface software in the production and operation activities.How to protect such new objects under the design system should proceed from the essence and explore a reasonable protection method compatible with it under the current legal framework.As a scientific and technological product that combines a variety of elements such as object-oriented,icons,and windows,the graphical user interface has experienced continuous exploration of multiple protection modes since its birth.The final choice of the design system is inevitably due to the reasonableness of its protection,which is more conducive to the continuous innovation of the graphical interface.However,due to the different design systems in different countries,the final protection effect is also very different.Based on the comparative analysis of the protection system of user graphical interface in comparative law,the two mainstream protection modes of this type of object,the EU mode and the US,Japan,and South Korea modes,are summarized.Among them,the protection of the EU model is more meaningful.It also proposes a solution to expand the concept of "product" in the design.What is different is that China can include software in the category of "product" concept to solve the problems faced by such new objects in protection.As a "product" in the industrial property design system,its meaning naturally cannot be expanded at will.Therefore,it is necessary to return to the original intention of "products" and clarify the legislative intent of "products" under industrial property rights.The concept of industrial property rights is quite extensive,and the definition of products is even more difficult to start with.Therefore,in the absence of legal basis,the definition and induction of the connotation and attributes of the "product" should naturally turn to the inseparable appearance design.In terms of theoretical feasibility,identifying software as a “product” in the design system not only conforms to the identification of product attributes attached to the design,but also guarantees the realization of its system function.For the hotly debated local design system,its introduction can indeed strengthen the protection of the design and improve the system;but for the protection of the graphical user interface,under the interpretation that the product is still a “tangible product”,others only involve software Torts remain unregulated at the legal level.Under the theory of software products,the design system has not significantly changed the current legal system,nor has it conflicted with future legislative plans.Through the investigation and analysis of the design patent authorization,right confirmation and infringement litigation stages,the software is introduced into the concept of "product",and only the corresponding procedures in practice need to be adjusted and improved to achieve enhanced GUI protection the goal of.Therefore,in the current design system,the protection method that combines software and graphical user interface design is the most preferred at this stage.