Competitive Games As A Whole Picture Copyright Infringement Identification

In recent years,the development of e-sports games live broadcast and short video games is in full swing,and infringement disputes of game copyright also occur frequently.There has been no clear conclusion on issues such as identification of work attributes,ownership of copyright and identification of infringement of the overall picture of competitive games,and the interests of relevant subjects are increasingly fierce.This paper takes the case of copyright dispute between a company from Shenzhen and a company from Beijing as an example to discuss the dispute points between the two sides: 1.How to identify the work properties of the overall picture of competitive games;2.Whether the plaintiff has the right to claim the work property right of the game as a whole;3.Whether the defendant has violated the plaintiff’s right of information network dissemination.According to the analysis,the overall picture of competitive games conforms to the characteristics of the works,and should be protected,and should be identified as "A work made in a manner similar to that of a film" under the current Copyright Law;The copyright of the overall image of the game belongs to the game developer,the player of the game is the performer,To enjoy the right of performers;Transmission of game images cannot constitute fair use and does not belong to the implied license of game developers.The help of live broadcast and video platforms to spread game images will constitute joint infringement with game players.At the same time,it expounds how to define audio-visual works in law.The Copyright Law of 2020 revised the definition of works and expanded the scope of the types of works.The overall picture of the game should be classified as "audio-visual works",and it should not be individually listed as "game works" to protect the game picture.It is unfair for game developers to prohibit the free dissemination of game images,which may monopolize the live broadcast market.It is suggested to introduce a special "legal license" to solve the problem of exercising relevant rights in the dissemination of game images.Nowadays,the development of live broadcast of e-sports games and short video games is in full swing,and infringement disputes of game copyright also occur frequently.There has been no clear conclusion on issues such as identification of work attributes,ownership of copyright and identification of infringement of the overall picture of competitive games,and the interests of relevant subjects are also increasingly fierce.This paper takes the case of copyright dispute between a company from Shenzhen and a company from Beijing as an example to discuss the dispute points between the two sides.There are three controversial points in this case:first,how to identify the work attribute of the whole picture of competitive games;2.Whether the plaintiff has the right to claim the work property right of the game as a whole;3.Whether the defendant has violated the plaintiff’s right of information network dissemination.According to the analysis,the overall picture of competitive games conforms to the characteristics of the works in copyright law,and should be protected.Furthermore,it is supposed to be identified as "A work made in a manner similar to that of a film" under the current Copyright Law.The copyright of the overall image of the game should belong to the game developer,while as the player of the game,he or she should enjoy the right of performers.Transmission of game images cannot constitute fair use and does not belong to the implied license of game developers.The help of live broadcast and video platforms to spread game images will constitute joint infringement with game players.At the same time,this paper expounds how to define audio-visual works in law.The Copyright Law of 2020 revised the definition of works and expanded the scope of the types of works.The overall picture of the game should be classified as "audio-visual works",rather than listed as "game works" individually to protect the game graphics.It is unfair for game developers to prohibit the free dissemination of game images,which may monopolize the live broadcast market.Therefore,it is suggested to introduce a special "legal license" to solve the problem of exercising relevant rights in the dissemination of game images.