Beijing Internet Court Judged Two ‘Wechat’ Copyright Cases and ‘Wechat’ Expressions Constituted Art Works Enjoy Copyright
Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Tencent Technology Co.) and Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Tencent Computer Co.) sued ‘Chuiniu’ software in court, which is the developer and operator of. Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ‘Qingshu’ Company) because they suspect that ‘Chuiniu’ software uses similar ‘Red Envelope’ interface and chat emoji. On July 19, the Beijing Internet Court publicly adjudicated two cases of infringement of copyright and unfair competition disputes between Tencent Science and Technology Company and Tencent Computer Company against ‘Qingshu’ Company.
In the first instance of the ‘Wechat Emoji’ case, it was found that the Wechat Emoji involved in the case were vivid and interesting, reflecting certain personalized choices and original expressions, which had aesthetic significance and constituted works of art. Tencent Technological Company had copyright over them. Tencent Computer Company also had the right of using and the corresponding authorization of ‘Wechat Emoji’. The defendant was sentenced to infringe on the right to disseminate information through network, and to compensate the plaintiff for economic losses of 300,000 yuan and reasonable expenses of more than 10,000 yuan.
In the ‘Wechat Red Envelope’ case, the plaintiff said that the electronic Red Envelope page in the defendant's "bragging" software was identical or substantially similar to the plaintiff's ‘Wechat Red Envelope Chat Bubble and Start Page’, which infringed the plaintiff's right of information network dissemination. The relevant pages of ‘Wechat Red Envelope’ and the whole pages of ‘Wechat’ have certain influence on decoration. As the operator of similar products and services, the defendant plagiarizes and imitates the whole process design, software interface, and icon design of ‘Wechat Red Envelope’, which easily causes confusion or misunderstanding among the relevant public and constitutes unfair competition.
The defendant argued that the creation and design of electronic red envelope originated from the red envelope in real life, and the Wechat ‘red envelope’ is not original; the relevant pages of Wechat red envelope and the whole pages of Wechat did not constitute decoration with certain influence. Before the plaintiff registered his works, a large number of identical or similar works were published. The ‘Wechat Red Envelope Chat Bubble and Start Page’ involved in the case was not original; the electronic red envelope used by the defendant was different from the work involved. Therefore, the defendant did not commit copyright infringement. Relevant pages of ‘Wechat Red Envelope’ and the whole page of Wechat do not constitute decoration with certain influence. The defendant did not publicize in any form the association between his software and the ‘Wechat’ application software, and the public concerned would not be confused or misunderstood. Therefore, the defendant did not carry out unfair competition.
The first instance of the ‘Wechat Red Envelope’ case confirmed that the ‘Wechat Red Envelope Chat Bubbles and Start Pages’ involved in the case had originality and constituted an art work; the related pages of ‘Wechat Red Envelope’ constituted decoration with certain influence. The defendant was found to have infringed upon the information network dissemination rights of the two plaintiffs and ordered to stop infringement and compensate the plaintiff for economic losses of 100,000 yuan; the defendant was found to have committed unfair competition, ordered to stop unfair competition and compensated Tencent Computer Company for economic losses of 400,000 yuan; in addition, the defendant was also sentenced to compensate the plaintiff for reasonable expenses of more than 90,000 yuan.
After the trial, Jiang Ying, the chief judge of the case and Vice President of Beijing Internet Court, said that the court decided the case in the spirit of encouraging innovation and opposing malicious imitation. Jiang Ying said: "For the original work of the plaintiff, we need to protect, for the malicious imitation of the defendant, we need to combat and stop, in the determination of damages, we need to consider not only to make up for the loss of the plaintiff, but also to give the defendant a certain warning effect to stop similar torts."
It is understood that this is the first case involving a series of copyright disputes involving "Wechat Emoji" and "Wechat Red Envelope".
August 22, 2019
Source: Beijing Internet Court
Photo from: 6199pic.com
