2011 Top 10 IP Cases in China’s Software Industry:the fifth

Key point: copyright of single words in font libraries being admitted

Copyright of Single Words in Font Libraries Being Admitted Judicially

Case summary: In August 2011, Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court in Jiangsu Province delivered the first instance ruling on the Beijing Han Yi Ke Yin Information Technology Co., Ltd. (Han Yi) v. Frog Prince (China) Daily Chemical Co., Ltd. and Fujian Shuangfei Daily Chemical Co., Ltd.case over copyright infringement. The court held that among the seven Chinese words in the defendants’ two trademarks “城市 宝贝” and “笑巴喜,” six were of unique design characters and under copyright protection. The defendants’ commercial use of these words constituted copyright infringement and they were ordered to bear relative responsibilities. The court therefore ruled that the two defendants cease infringements immediately and stop selling products with the disputed trademarks. In addition, the two defendants were ordered to pay compensation of 76,000 yuan to Han Yi for its economic losses and reasonable expenses.
 
Expert comments: Founder and Han Yi are two major font enterprises in China, and both of them have been digging in the industry for nearly 20 years and developed market appealing font libraries respectively.
 
However, due to various historical reasons, the majority of their designs are being used without licensing. Suffering from rampant piracy, their operations have been rather difficult. In recent years, as China’s IP protection policies strengthened, the font enterprises began to uphold their rights actively. However, whether single words in font libraries could enjoy copyright protection has consistently been the focus of disputes in the industry. This is the first case in China in which single words in font libraries were subjected to copyright protection.