Exploring The Copyright Protection Of Live Online Game Screen

With the rapid development of online games and the live streaming industry,the online game live streaming industry is booming.However,this industry has also brought some legal controversies.Online game live broadcast screen(hereinafter referred to as online game live screen)is a unique screen formed by combining online game running screen(hereinafter referred to as online game running screen)with elements such as pop-up interaction,anchor commentary,text pictures,and even professional camera switching.China’s legislation lags behind in protecting the copyright of live online game screen,leading to conflicts in judicial practice as to how to define the nature of the work,the type of work and the definition of copyright attribution.The purpose of this paper is to discuss the current situation and problems of copyright protection of live online game screen,and analyze the identification of works and attribution of rights under different circumstances.In addition,the author will draw on foreign experience and put forward suggestions for improving copyright protection of live online game screens in China.With regard to the composition of the live online game screen,it can be divided into: single screen presentation type,simple element addition type and original element addition type.The online game running screen is the basic component of the live online game screen,and there is a distinction between the two concepts.Thus,this paper will follow the overall idea of exploring the online game running screen first,and then analyzing the online game live screen from the perspective of classification.The online game running screen itself has originality and reproducibility,constitutes a work,and should be enjoyed by the game developer.The single screen presentation type and the simple element addition type of online game live screen have no added elements or the elements are too simple to form a deductive work,and the copyright should belong to the right holder of the online game running screen itself,i.e.the game developer.The original element-added online game live broadcast screen can constitute a deduction work because the added element has original personality and the online game running screen is compounded,and it should belong to the type of audiovisual work under the newly amended Copyright Law.The ownership of the rights of individual broadcast of anchors needs to be further analyzed depending on the legal relationship between the anchors and the broadcast platform;the rights of large-scale e-sports competitions should be attributed to the event organizers.According to the legal provisions and jurisprudence of the United States,the live online game screen is regarded as an audiovisual work to be protected;Japan through typical jurisprudence to improve the legislative loopholes.Therefore,in order to better protect the copyright of online game live broadcast screen in China,improvements need to be made in clarifying the issue of defining works: firstly,the standard of originality needs to be refined in order to judge whether it constitutes a work;secondly,the online game live broadcast screen constituting a work should be confirmed as an audiovisual work,which is not only in line with the new provisions of the Copyright Law,but also more feasible and reasonable from a global perspective.Secondly,on the issue of clarifying the attribution of copyright of live online game images,it can adopt the way of pre-contract drafting or expanding the broadcasting subjects to regulate the attribution of rights.Finally,the copyright protection of live online game screen can be strengthened in terms of promulgating guiding cases and establishing the self-monitoring mechanism of the live game industry.