Copyright protection of Chinese computer character fonts

The PRC Copyright Law provides a specialised category of the types of works protected. These include literary works; oral works; musical works; dramatic works; quyi works; choreographic works and acrobatic works; works of fine art, architecture and photography; and computer software, in which fonts used on a computer are not found to be copyrighted subject matter.

Originality is therefore the key element to define whether Chinese character fonts used by computers should be under copyright protection. The Chinese character font is quite different from that of any Western language in that it is of great variety with a complicated structure. There are far more artistic elements in the Chinese character than in any Western language in terms of writing tools and customs. The creation of a Chinese character font used by computers requires much independent and original effort. The design of Chinese characters takes longer, and is more difficult to fabricate due to the sheer number of Chinese characters. Even designing a font following the writing style of an ancient calligrapher, each character would need to be redesigned, modified or refined to fit with the requirement of the block letter stock used by modern computer software.

As a result, developing a Chinese character font for computers may be regarded as creating a new form of digital expression of the characters. The font developers should be entitled to copyright protection based on these “original” elements.

Article 3(4) of the Copyright Law provides that artistic work is protected. So a Chinese character font would be protected if it constitutes an artistic work. In judicial practice, it has been affirmed that the font of each individual Chinese character, as a work of art, is protected under the Copyright Law if it has originality.

Font infringement cases increasing

Others can therefore only use the font with the copyright proprietor's authorisation. However, people take it for granted when obtaining software through a legitimate channel that this would naturally mean obtaining the right to use the font as well. This is not necessarily the case. Obtaining an authentic work stock means to have obtained the ownership and right to use the copyright for certain uses, but it does not mean unlimited use of the font.

A lack of full awareness and understanding of the IP rights to fonts used in computers has resulted in many companies, even international companies, facing litigation.

In 2007, Founder Electronics brought an action against Blizzard Entertainment, a US company, for infringement of its fonts. It claimed that Blizzard reproduced fonts without authorisation and used them in the game World of Warcraft, which was marketed in mainland China. Founder argued that five types of character fonts it had developed, compiled and aggregated on its own had been infringed. It requested that Blizzard cease and desist from the infringement, and claimed for damages of Rmb100 million (US$14.5 million). This is still one of the largest damage claims by a Chinese corporation against a foreign corporation for IP infringement since China's entry into the World Trade Organisation.

In 2008, P&G (Guangzhou) and Carrefour Beijing were sued for the unauthorised use of several fonts owned by Founder, including the Qian scripts, Felt-tipped Pen Black scripts and the Cartoon scripts. P&G had used the fonts on their Rejoice Shampoo and Conditioner. In this case, P&G was requested to cease the infringement immediately, and compensate the copyright owner for economic losses estimated at Rmb1.42 million.

Case lessons involving font use

Though there is still an argument that font used on computers shouldn't be protected by copyright law because of the possible monopoly implications, the judicial practice has acknowledged the copyright protection. On the other hand, awareness of copyright for computer fonts is not sufficient in the marketplace. As many fonts are easily available online, and the price of some authentic fonts is not high, designers usually do not consider the copyright issue when downloading an artistic font or buying an installation CD.

Increasingly, international companies are being accused of infringement for their use of fonts in their commercials or product packaging. The cases in dispute show that these companies did not intend to infringe the copyright of others. Copyright protection of Chinese character computer fonts is an issue that requires more attention to avoid this kind of litigation increasing.