角色之著作權保護－－從內容產業的經驗思考電玩產業的現況

Copyright Protection of Video Game Characters

「概念與表達區分」乃著作權法上重要原則之一。「整體觀念以及感覺測試法」、「抽象測試法」以及「抽離、過濾、比較測試法」是常見用以判斷的工具。儘管在著作權法條文中並未規定保障角色權，美國、大陸以及我國在實務上均肯認著作中之角色得單獨成為保護之標的，在美國甚至發展出兩個主要判斷標準：「充分描繪測試法」與「故事敘述測試法」。與電玩遊戲相關的著作權訴訟在國際間層出不窮，如何判斷電玩遊戲中的角色能否得到著作權法的保障以及是否被抄襲將攸關電玩遊戲產業的未來發展。本文亦將介紹大陸在近年兩則電玩遊戲著作權案件。考量到電玩遊戲業者所面臨的特殊產業環境，若能對於電玩遊戲角色權的保障採取對於原著作權人更為有利的認定方式，將更能鼓舞願意投入研發創新的電玩遊戲業者，帶動產業的良性發展。正是因為電玩遊戲的產業環境異於以往，根據觀察，美國實務見解也從過去傾向被告轉為傾向保護原告。這樣的轉變值得吾人借鏡。

The Idea-Expression Dichotomy is one of the essential principles in Copyright Law. The 'Total Concept and Feel' Test, the “Abstractions Test” and the “Abstraction-Filtration-Comparison” test are commonly used tools regarding Substantial Similarity. Although Copyright Law per se does not declare that characters are a copyrightable subject matter, characters are truly protected by means of court decisions in the United States, Mainland China and Taiwan. In the United States, the 'Sufficiently Delineated' testand the 'Story Being Told' test are applied to the protection of characters. Throughout the world, copyright lawsuits with respect to video games come out one after another. Whether characters in video games are considered copyrightable and whether they are cloned should be taken seriously. The article will discuss two recent video game cases in Mainland China. In consideration of the special business environment that video game developers are faced with, we may set a lower bar for copyright infringement in favor of game developers. In other words, we should provide stronger copyright protection of characters in video games. With the above measures, the business environment could be more competitive and benign. It is the evolution of business environment that changes the legal landscape. It is observed that, in the United States,courts today tend to side with copyright owners of video games. Such evolution certainly provides us with food for thought.