Key words civil / copyright infringement / works of applied art / practicality / artistry
Referee Points
Applied works of art that are original, artistic, practical, and reproducible, and whose artistry and practicality can be separated, can be identified as works of applied art and are protected by copyright law as works of fine art. Works of applied art protected by copyright law must be artistic, and copyright law protects the artistry of works of applied art rather than their practicality.
Relevant laws
Articles 2 and 4 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China
basic case
In January 2009, the plaintiff Zuo Shangmingshe Household Products (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zuo Shangmingshe Company) designed a piece of furniture named "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture". In July of the same year, Zuo Shangmingshe Company commissioned Shanghai Aoshi Photography Design Co., Ltd. to take photos of the series of furniture it produced. In September and October 2011, Zuo Shangmingshe introduced and promoted its products and products on Hejia.com and SouFun.com, and at the same time showed photos of its "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" product. On December 10, 2013, Zuo Shangmingshe Company applied for copyright registration of the three-dimensional pattern of "Tang Yun Cloakroom Combination Cabinet".

The defendant Nanjing Mengyang Furniture Sales Center (hereinafter referred to as Mengyang Sales Center) is the agent dealer of the defendant Beijing Zhongrong Hengsheng Wood Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhongrong Company) in Nanjing. Zuo Shangmingshe Company found that the "Tang Yun mahogany cloakroom" sold under the brand "Transgression" in Mengyang Sales Center was exactly the same as the "Tang Yun cloakroom combination cabinet". Zuo Shangmingshe Company believes that "Tang Yun Cloakroom Combination Cabinet" is a work of applied art, and Zhongrong Company has infringed Zuo Shangmingshe Company's right of reproduction and distribution of the work; Mengyang Sales Center has infringed Zuo Shangmingshe Company's Distribution rights of works. From November 29, 2013 to January 13, 2014, Zuo Shangmingshe Company applied for evidence preservation for the accused infringing products, and filed this lawsuit.
Comparing Zuo Shangmingshe's "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" with the accused infringing product "Tang Yun Mahogany Cloakroom", the similarities between the two are: the overall shape is L-shaped, the layout of the wardrobe door panels is similar, the accessories are decorated the same, and the panels are The design, color, texture, and overall shape are similar, and the above-mentioned similarities are mainly reflected in the art; the difference is mainly in the L-shaped corner angle and the internal space separation of the cabinet, which is reflected in the practical function, and has no effect on the overall visual effect. make a noticeable difference between the two.
referee result
On December 16, 2014, the Intermediate People's Court of Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province made a civil judgment (2014) Ning Zhi Min Chu Zi No. 126: rejecting Zuo Shang Ming She's claim. Zuo Shangmingshe Company refused to accept the judgment of the first instance and filed an appeal. The Higher People's Court of Jiangsu Province issued (2015) Su Zhimin Zhongzi No. 00085 Civil Judgment on August 30, 2016: 1. Revoke the Civil Judgment (2014) Ning Zhimin Chuzi No. 126 of Nanjing Intermediate People's Court of Jiangsu Province; 1. Zhongrong Company immediately stopped producing and selling products that infringed the copyright of Zuo Shangmingshe Company's "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture"; 3. Mengyang Sales Center immediately stopped selling products that infringed the copyright of Zuo Shangmingshe's "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" work 4. Zhongrong Company shall compensate Zuo Shangmingshe Company for economic losses (including reasonable expenses) of 300,000 yuan within ten days from the effective date of this judgment; 5. Reject Zuo Shangmingshe Company’s other claims. Zhongrong refused to accept it and applied to the Supreme People's Court for retrial. On December 29, 2018, the Supreme People's Court made the (2018) Supreme Court Minshen No. 6061 ruling, rejecting Zhongrong's application for retrial.
Referee reason
According to the Supreme People's Court, the main issues of dispute in this case are:

Regarding whether the "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" of Zuo Shangmingshe Company constitutes a work protected by my country's Copyright Law

Article 2 of the "Regulations for the Implementation of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Regulations") stipulates: "Works referred to in the Copyright Law refer to works that are original in the fields of literature, art and science and can be reproduced in a tangible form. Intellectual achievements." Item 8, Article 4 of the "Implementing Regulations" stipulates: "A work of art refers to a two-dimensional or three-dimensional plastic art work with aesthetic significance composed of lines, colors or other methods such as painting, calligraphy, and sculpture." What my country's Copyright Law protects is the author's original expression in the work, but does not protect the thought itself reflected in the work. Applied art itself is both practical and artistic. Practical functions belong to the category of ideas and should not be protected by copyright law. What is protected as a work of applied art is only its artistry, that is, the protection of the original artistic shape or pattern on the work of applied art, that is, the structure or form of the artwork. As a work of applied art protected by copyright law among works of fine art, in addition to satisfying the general constitutional requirements of the work and the special constitutional conditions of the fine art work, it should also satisfy the condition that its practicality and artistry can be separated from each other. Under the circumstance that the practicality and artistry of applied works of art cannot be separated, they cannot become works of art protected by copyright law.
The "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" of Zuo Shangmingshe Company has the characteristics of reproducibility, and the two parties have no dispute over this. The core issue in this case is whether the "Tang Yun cloakroom furniture" has highly original artistic shapes or patterns, and whether the practical function of the furniture can be separated from the artistic beauty.
First of all, about whether Zuo Shangmingshe Company independently completed "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture". The design drawings, copyright registration certificates, product photos, sales contracts, publicity reports and other evidence submitted by Zuo Shangmingshe Company to the court of first instance have formed a complete evidence chain, which is enough to prove that the company has independently completed the "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" in 2009. . Zhongrong Company claimed that Zuo Shangmingshe Company's "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" was copied from other people's accessory design, and used common colors and designs. Because it did not submit sufficient evidence to prove its claim, the court did not support its above claim .
Secondly, about whether the "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" completed by Zuo Shangmingshe Company is original. From the aspect of panel color design, the panel color of "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" of Zuo Shangmingshe Company was designed by itself, instead of using the texture of wood itself, it extracted the colors and elements of traditional Chinese furniture and redesigned them in an abstract way. Integrating traditional Chinese style with modern style, it reflects its unique artistic shape or artistic pattern in color selection, matching, texture direction and depth change; from the perspective of accessory design, "Tang Yun cloakroom furniture" uses pure handmade brass Fittings, including front doors and drawer handles and brass horns inlaid around the drawers, wavy beveled edges and perforated designs. Whether to use corner flower borders on the furniture, the pattern selected by the corner flowers, and the specific position of the borders all reflect the creative labor of Zuo Shangmingshe Company's choice, selection, design, layout, etc.; from the perspective of Chinese furniture style, "Tang Yun The right side of the "cloakroom furniture" adopts a Chinese one-to-one symmetrical design, giving people a harmonious aesthetic feeling. Therefore, "Tang Yun cloakroom furniture" has aesthetic significance and has the height of artistic creation of works of art.
Finally, it is about whether the practical function of Zuo Shangmingshe's "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" can be separated from the artistic beauty. The practical function of "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" mainly lies in the design of the storage space inside the cabinet, so that it has the functions of placing and displaying clothes, and the L-shaped corner design of the cabinet, so that it can be used to match the specific home environment. The artistic beauty of this furniture is mainly reflected in the design of the color and texture of the board, the matching of metal accessories, and Chinese-style symmetry. By adding modern elements to the Chinese-style style, it produces a double aesthetic effect of classical and modern. Changes to the design of the "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture", such as the color and texture of the board, the matching of metal accessories, and the Chinese-style symmetry, will not affect its practical functions as cloakroom furniture for placing and displaying clothes. Therefore, the practical function and artistic beauty of "Tang Yun cloakroom furniture" can be separated and exist independently.
Therefore, the "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" of Zuo Shangmingshe Company, as a three-dimensional artistic work with both practical functions and aesthetic significance, is a work of art protected by copyright law.
2. Regarding whether Zhongrong Company has infringed Zuo Shangmingshe Company's claim to protect the copyright of the work involved
Judging whether the accused infringing product constitutes an infringement of others’ works protected by the Copyright Law should be based on whether the accused infringer “contacts” the work claimed by the right holder, whether the alleged infringing product and the work claimed by the right holder constitute “substantial Similarity" two aspects are judged. In this case, first of all, according to the facts ascertained by the court of second instance, the relevant design drawings provided by Zhongrong Company cannot fully reflect the design elements of the accused infringing product "Tang Yun Mahogany Cloakroom", and also lack information such as the time of formation and the composition of designers. It fully proves that the alleged infringing product is designed and completed independently by itself. Zuo Shangmingshe Company's "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" work was formed and published earlier than the accused infringing product of Zhongrong Company. As an operator in the furniture industry, Zhongrong Company has the conditions to get in touch with the works of "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" by Zuo Shangmingshe Company. Secondly, as mentioned above, for works of art that have both practical functions and aesthetic significance, copyright law only protects their artistic aspects, not their practical functions. When judging whether Zuo Shangmingshe's "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" work is substantially similar to Zhongrong's allegedly infringing product "Tang Yun Mahogany Cloakroom", it should be compared in terms of artistry. Comparing "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" with the accused infringing product "Tang Yun Mahogany Cloakroom", the similarities between the two are: the overall shape is L-shaped, the layout of the wardrobe door panels is similar, the decoration of accessories is the same, the color and texture of the panels, and the overall shape Similarities, etc., the above-mentioned similarities are mainly reflected in the art; the difference is mainly in the L-shaped corner angle and the internal space separation of the cabinet, which is reflected in the practical function, and has no effect on the overall visual effect, and will not cause obvious differences between the two. difference. Therefore, Zhongrong Company's accused infringing product is substantially similar to Zuo Shangmingshe Company's "Tang Yun Cloakroom Furniture" work, and Zhongrong Company has infringed the copyright of Zuo Shangmingshe Company's work involved in the case.