(1) Legal definition of software
Article 2 of the newly revised regulations defines that computer software refers to computer programs and its related documents.
(2) Legal connotation of computer programs and documents
1. The third section of the newly revised regulations Paragraph 1 of Article 1 stipulates that "computer program" refers to a sequence of coded instructions that can be executed by a computer or other device with information processing capabilities in order to obtain a certain result, or a sequence of symbolic instructions that can be automatically converted into a sequence of coded instructions. Or a sequence of symbolic statements. The source program and object program of the same computer program are the same work.
2. Paragraph 2 of Article 3 of the newly revised regulations stipulates that "document" refers to the content, composition, design, functional specifications, and development of the program. Textual information and diagrams on conditions, test results and usage methods, such as programming instructions, flow charts, user manuals, etc.
(3) Prerequisites for software copyright to be protected by law
Article 4 of the newly revised regulations The regulations indicate that in order for software to be protected by my country’s Copyright Law and Computer Software Protection Regulations, it must meet the following two conditions like other works: First, it must be original and “must be independently developed by the developer” and not Plagiarism or illegal copying of other people's works; second, the software developer has expressed and fixed the computer program in some objective and real form, "fixed on some tangible object."
(4) Rights enjoyed by software copyright owners
According to Article 8 of the newly revised regulations It stipulates that software copyright holders shall legally enjoy the right to publish, authorize, modify, copy, distribute, rent, information network dissemination, translation, licensing rights and the right to obtain remuneration for the software, in whole or in part. rights and the right to receive remuneration thereby.
(5) Main forms of software copyright infringement
Articles 23 and 24 of the newly revised regulations clearly stipulate 10 There are two forms of software infringement, which respectively involve the infringement of personal rights and property rights of software copyrights. Generally speaking, the main forms of software infringement include but are not limited to:
1. Plagiarism. Plagiarism refers to the act of stealing other people's legally copyrighted software as one's own and publishing or registering it. The main manifestation of plagiarism is to use plagiarism or partial plagiarism to sign one's own name on other people's software ( or name) and publish or register.
2. Illegal copying. Illegal copying refers to making one or more copies of other people's software without the permission of the software copyright owner. The main form of illegal copying is piracy. This kind of infringement directly robs the market share and commercial profits of genuine manufacturers. It is currently the most common software infringement, the harm is very obvious, and it is also the most well-known to the public.
3. Unauthorized use. Unauthorized use refers to the demonstration, modification, translation, annotation, and application of other people's software without the permission of the software copyright owner and without legal basis. Illegal use. For example, an enterprise installs and applies other people's software in its internal computer system without authorization; another example is modifying, translating, annotating and marketing other people's software without authorization, and pursuing illegal interests.
4. Permitting others to use without authorization. Permitting others to use without authorization refers to the act of allowing a third party to use other people's software without authorization without the permission of the software copyright owner and without legal basis. Generally speaking, in order to promote the hardware or software they produce and distribute, computer hardware and system software manufacturers, distributors or retailers pre-install software in their hardware without authorization or bundle or bundle it with the sales system software for free. Giving away software to others.
5. Unauthorized transfer. Unauthorized transfer refers to the unauthorized transfer of other people’s software to a third party without the permission of the software copyright owner and without legal basis. The behavior of three people. In particular, a manufacturer with certain software development capabilities and reputation plagiarizes other people's software and directly publishes and sells it under its own name, which is even more concealed and intrusive.
(6) Legal liability for infringement of software copyright
According to Articles 23 and 24 of the newly revised regulations According to the provisions of the regulations, those who infringe software copyrights shall be responsible for stopping the infringement, eliminating the impact, and making amends according to the circumstances.Civil responsibilities such as apology and compensation for losses; if the public interest is harmed at the same time, the copyright administrative department shall order the infringement to cease, confiscate the illegal gains, confiscate and destroy the infringing copies, and may also impose a fine; if the case is serious, the copyright administrative department shall also Materials, tools, equipment, etc. mainly used for making infringing copies can be confiscated; if criminal laws are violated, criminal liability will be pursued in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law on the crime of copyright infringement and the crime of selling infringing copies.
(7) Limitations of software copyright protection
According to the Copyright Law "Idea/ Expression (expression) dichotomy" is the basic theory. Article 6 of the newly revised regulations stipulates that "the protection of software copyrights in these regulations does not extend to the ideas, processing procedures, operating methods or digital concepts used in developing software." The understanding of this provision should be that not only the external manifestations of computer programs and related documents and other software are within the scope of legal protection, but also the content that can be fixed, such as the logical structure and expression methods of such computer programs and documents, should also be within the scope of legal protection. Within the scope of legal protection, all results (ideas) of intellectual activities that are intellectual activities and have no external expression are excluded from the scope of protection. However, from the above explanation of the scope of software copyright protection, we can also draw a limited conclusion. In addition to copyright, the all-round protection of software, a new type of intellectual labor, also relies on patent law, trademark law, and anti-unfair competition law. , criminal law and other laws and regulations, comprehensive judicial relief.
What are the contents protected by software copyright
Computer program (including source program and target program) And its related documents (such as program design instructions, flow charts, user manuals, etc.) are the objects of software copyright and are protected in accordance with the law.
Software copyright holders enjoy the following rights:
Publication rights, that is, the right to decide whether the software will be made public;
Authorship rights, that is, the right to indicate that the developer Identity, the right to sign on the software;
The right to modify, that is, the right to add to, delete from, or change the order of instructions or statements in the software;
Copying rights, that is, the right to make one or more copies of the software;Distribution rights, that is, by selling or giving away Right to make originals or copies of software available to the public;
Lease right, that is, the right to license others to temporarily use the software for a fee, except where the software is not the main subject of the lease;
The right of information network dissemination, that is, the right to provide software to the public in a wired or wireless manner so that the public can obtain the software at a time and place of their own choosing;
Translation rights, that is, the right to convert the original software from one natural language into another natural language;
The software copyright owner can license others Exercise their software copyrights and have the right to receive remuneration.
Software copyright holders may transfer all or part of their software copyright and are entitled to receive remuneration.
The rights enjoyed by the software copyright owner arise from the date the software development is completed.
The protection period of a natural person’s copyright is life and 50 years after death, ending on December 31 of the 50th year after death;
The copyright protection period of a legal person or other organization is 50 years, ending on December 31 of the 50th year after the software was first published.
The owner of legal copies of software refers to those who obtain legal copies of software through legal channels. In short, those who obtain genuine software through formal channels. They enjoy the following rights in accordance with the law:
1. Install the software into computers and other devices with information processing capabilities according to the needs of use;
2. In order to prevent the copy from being damaged And make backup copies, but these copies are only for your own use and may not be provided to others;
3. In order to use the software in actual computer application environments or improve it Make necessary modifications to its functional performance, but such modified software can only be used by yourself and cannot be provided to third parties.
"Computer Software Protection Regulations" stipulates Software copyright can be transferred in whole or in part, or certain rights can be used with exclusive license. Those who obtain software copyright through transfer or exclusive license are protected in accordance with the law.
It should be noted that the transfer mayTo use copyright, a written contract must be concluded and registration procedures must be completed.
What is the protection period of software copyright?
Article 15 of the "Computer Software Protection Regulations" stipulates, Except for the developer's identity rights, the protection period for all other human rights is twenty-five years, ending on December 31st of the twenty-fifth year after the software is first released.
Before the expiration of the protection period, the software can apply to the software registration and management authority for renewal for twenty-five years, but the maximum protection period shall not exceed fifty years. During the protection period of software copyright, the occurrence of inheritance activities, licensing activities and transfer activities that comply with legal provisions will not change the protection period of the software copyright.
After the software expires, except for the developer’s identity rights, all other rights of the software will be terminated. However, if one of the following circumstances occurs, the rights of the software will enter the public domain before the protection period: the unit that owns the software copyright terminates without a legal successor; the citizen who owns the software copyright dies without a legal successor.
The above is the relevant information compiled by the editor of Legal Savior Network for everyone. In this way, it also provides effective rights protection for software developers, which is more conducive to the development of the software market. If you have any other questions, please feel free to consult online.
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