Live Broadcasting Industry Copyright Disputes Constantly Game Vendors And Live Platform Rights And Interests To Be Clear

The white paper (2020), the legal protection of the live broadcasting industry, mentioned that from the perspective of protecting innovation and promoting communication, it is necessary to leave ample room for the development of the game live industry, and avoid unreasonable restrictions on game manufacturers through game service agreements.

In June 23rd, the Southwest University of Political Science and Law School of artificial intelligence law and the twenty-first Century economic report jointly held a seminar on legal issues in the development of the online game live industry. At the meeting, the white paper on legal protection of live broadcasting industry (2020) was released (hereinafter referred to as the white paper).

At the meeting, experts and scholars from academia, industry and law circles launched a deep discussion and Discussion on the legal issues gradually emerging in the live broadcast industry. The topics include: the copyright attribute of online game live screen, the rational use of online game screen, the balance of interests between online game manufacturers and online games, and unfair competition. Dispute and so on.

The huge interest and attention of the game live industry makes the contradiction between game manufacturers and live broadcasting platforms surfaced. -IC photo

Copyright discussion on live broadcasting industry

The white paper believes that the game playing industry in China has sprouted since 2014, and began to develop rapidly in 2016. Now it has entered the outbreak stage and has entered a mature stage. Market data show that in 2018, the scale of China's live gaming platform reached 13 billion 190 million yuan, up 62.6% from the same period last year, and it is estimated that the scale of the Games will reach 24 billion yuan in 2020. As of June 2019, the number of webcast subscribers in China has reached 433 million.

The huge interest and attention of the game live industry makes the contradiction between game manufacturers and live broadcasting platforms surfaced. At present, the copyright protection of online game live pictures is controversial both in theory and practice.

From November 2018 to May 2019, the Tencent applied for the 8 injunction against the products of the bytes jumping, watermelon videos and today's headlines, asking for the ban on headline products to disseminated direct video broadcast of Tencent's "glory of the kings", "Heroes League" and "crossing the line".

Speaking of the copyright coverage of games, Cao Wei, an associate professor at the school of civil and commercial law of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, believes that games are essentially pre programmed software, usually considered software works, but can also be protected voluntarily by the obligee. The copyright of game companies should be protected. Secondly, the contractual rights of game companies based on game user agreement should be protected.

Cao Wei pointed out: "the reason for the controversy about the copyright protection mode of software is partly because the copyright protection is clear before the software enters the copyright system, and copyright emphasizes the protection of the form of expression, less than the technical effect. Copyright restricts others to copy the source code of game software, but does not protect game pictures and other technical effects. In view of this, live broadcast is not a live broadcast of game software source code, and therefore does not constitute copyright infringement. However, game manufacturers can choose to apply the anti unfair competition law to protect commercial interests.

Yin Fenglin, an associate professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, gave his own views from the perspective of industrial conflict of interests. He believes that the interests of live broadcast of online games exist in the gray area of copyright. When deciding whether the right grey area should be controlled by the right person or who should be controlled, we need to consider the impact on the online game software market first.

Yin Fenglin said: "if we do not let game developers control the benefits of live broadcast of online games, they will inhibit the development of the game software industry. Then we should give the game developers the benefits of this grey area; otherwise, if the interests of game developers are not given to game developers, game developers still have enough motivation to develop game software, we should consider the benefits of live streaming to downstream participants. 。 At the same time, we need to balance the prosperity of the cultural market, the promotion of employment and the protection of the public interest.

Two creation and rational use of disputes

A controversial point in the attribution of online game live pictures is that the use of games is not a two creation. In response to this problem, Cao Wei put forward the use of labor theory of value to explain the rights of gamers at the seminar. "Players play well and live in order to attract audiences. No one can see the bad game. Players attract attention through their actions and generate profits. In this case, labor is valuable and can become a new right. Passive users go to positive creators.

Therefore, he believes that live broadcast is not the right coverage of game vendors, and live broadcasting is a new field, and the resulting rights are a new right. The purpose of the game is to play. The purpose of the live broadcast is to broadcast. The two are different. The normal performance of the game user agreement can not be extended to the live broadcast industry. At this point, the live broadcast meets the standard of conversion, and has reasonable space for consideration.

Cao Wei suggested that "play games" can be regarded as the co creation process of players and game manufacturers. The game picture is regarded as a cooperative work of the two sides. Since it is a cooperative work, according to the copyright law, any party of the co authors shall not prevent the other party from exercising their right without good reason. Under such circumstances, game manufacturers can not prevent players from broadcasting live, but only needs both sides. The proceeds are normally distributed. "

In the previous case of game play, reasonable use is a major focus of controversy among all parties, and is also a difficult point identified.

In this regard, Beijing Rouge law firm senior partner, Beijing Xicheng District Lawyers Association Vice President Lu Li pointed out that online games live related to the rational use of the problem. "Fair use is a very important system. It is a restriction on the exclusive right of intellectual property, and is not paid without the consent of the copyright owner."

Lu Li believes that the application of the fair use system of live broadcast should consider two factors: first, the purpose of using the game screen. Whether it is to display the game skills of the anchors or to attract traffic through individuals or platforms, it is to realize the realisation of the traffic. Whether the game broadcast is accompanied by commercial interests, whether it is profitable or not is an important consideration for judging whether the infringement is or not. Second, we must judge whether the legitimate rights and interests of the copyright owner are damaged. Is it an obstacle to the game players who have not entered the live broadcast industry?

Zhang Lianyong, deputy president of the two court of the Beijing Internet court, gave advice from a legal point of view: "on the one hand, we must establish a market authorization mechanism for game pictures; secondly, we can explore the establishment of copyright collective management organizations in online games."

Promoting coordinated development of industry

According to the white paper, from the perspective of protecting innovation and promoting communication, it is necessary to leave ample room for the development of the game live industry. We should avoid unreasonable restrictions on game manufacturers through game service agreements. Game playing is a new market area, and has not eroded the benefits of game manufacturers' operation game.

Cao Wei believes that the coordinated development of the game industry and the live broadcast industry should start from three aspects. First of all, protect the legitimate interests of game vendors based on software copyright; secondly, recognize the value of intellectual property labor theory, gamers have moved from "passive users" to "active creators"; finally, to avoid game manufacturers to extend control to the game live industry.

"The problem of online games has attracted much attention in recent ten years, but it has not been completely solved. In essence, it lacks a new right system -- code space right." Wu Weiguang, associate professor of Law School of Tsinghua University, proposed that code space is a new form of social supply in the network economy. Code space is a dynamic network organization. Online game is a typical "code space" and should be granted special rights recognition and protection as a whole.

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