Copying the style of car decoration accessories may infringe copyright

With the vigorous development of the automobile consumer market, consumers' demand for automobiles is more diversified and personalized. Under this consumer trend, the market potential of automobile personalized customization and modification is huge, especially the customized modification of fashion, personality and technology for the appearance of automobiles, which is favored by customers. However, some new types of intellectual property disputes have arisen as a result.

Recently, the People's Court of Fengtai District, Beijing Municipality concluded a copyright infringement dispute case involving auto decoration accessories, and upheld the original judgment after the second-instance trial. In similar cases in the past, the right holder usually chose to defend its rights on the grounds of infringement of design patent rights, but this case is a typical case of copyright infringement to protect rights. Let's take a look↓↓↓

Brief facts of the case

L Automobile Company is a company mainly engaged in the design of automobiles and spare parts, and its "Lord Edition", "Pilot Edition", "Ones Edition" and other series of automotive custom decoration products enjoy a certain reputation in the field of automobile modification.

On two occasions in 2019 and 2021, L Auto purchased a trim accessory, including the grille and front bumper, from a shop called the T Car Specialty Store. L Automobile Company believed that it was similar to the "L-shaped lord custom decorative piece" designed by it in 2018, so it sued the store operator Company T and the commodity producer Company H to the Beijing Fengtai District People's Court for copyright infringement, requesting the court to order the second company to stop the infringement and compensate them for economic losses and reasonable expenses totaling more than 50 yuan.

Company H and Company T argued that the middle grille and front bumper of L Automobile Company were industrial products, not works of applied art, and did not reach a certain level of artistic creation, so they did not constitute works of art protected by the Copyright Law. The middle grille and front bumper sold by Company T are different works from those of L Automobile, and do not constitute substantial similarity. In addition, Company T also stated that the goods it sold were of legal origin and that there was no subjective fault for infringement.

The trial process

After the trial of the case, the Fengtai Court ascertained that L Automobile Company provided the creation manuscript and evolution process of the middle net and the front bumper decoration involved in the case, the final decoration display drawing, the description of the creative inspiration of the work, the article published on its official WeChat public account on June 8, 2018 (the accompanying pictures include the car pictures and decorative parts of the middle net and the front bumper decoration involved in the case) and other promotional articles.

In 2019 and 2021, under the witness of a notary public at the notary office, the authorized agent of L Automobile Company purchased the modified decorative parts sold by Company T on its Tmall store, including the middle mesh and the front bumper. Company T recognized that the products purchased twice were identical except for the inconsistent color scheme. Comparing the mesh and bumper involved in the case claimed by L Automobile Company with the products sold by Company T, the overall shape, structure, and specific shape of each component are basically the same, and the differences are mainly concentrated in the changes in the upper and lower positions of the local light holes, and the small increase or decrease in the number of local grilles.

L Automobile Company filed a lawsuit on the grounds that Company H had infringed the design patent rights of the front bumper and the middle grille of the products involved in the case. Company H asserted that L Automobile Company's second lawsuit on the ground of copyright infringement was an abuse of litigation rights.

Trial

The People's Court of Fengtai District, Beijing Municipality held that as a work of applied art protected by the Copyright Law, in addition to satisfying both the general constituent elements of the work and the special constituent elements of the work of art, it should also meet the conditions that its practicality and artistry can be separated from each other: the two can be physically separated from each other, that is, the practicality with practical functions and the artistry that embodies the aesthetic sense of art can be physically separated from each other and exist separately; The two can be conceptually separated, i.e., altering the artistry of a work of applied art will not lead to the loss of its practical function. Under the circumstance that the practicality and artistry of a applied art cannot be separated, it cannot become a work of art protected by copyright law.

Evidence such as the creation manuscript and the artwork of the evolution process submitted by L Automobile Company is sufficient to prove that the company completed the middle mesh and front bumper trim involved in the case in June 2018. The design of the decorative accessories involved in the case of L Automobile Company reflects the company's choices and trade-offs in terms of lines, layout, colors, etc., and has reached the height of artistic creation of art works. Altering the grille layout, the trend, position, color matching, and the position and shape of the light mesh of the decorative parts do not affect their practical functions as the middle grille and the front bumper in terms of protection, buffering, ventilation, heat dissipation, etc., so the artistic beauty of the decorative accessories involved in the case can be separated from the practical functions and exist independently. At the same time, the decorative accessories involved in the case are reproducible, so the decorative accessories involved in the case constitute works of art and should be protected by the Copyright Law.

The overall shape, structure and specific shape of each part of the alleged infringing product and the work involved in the case are basically the same, and the proportion of differences is very small, all of which are local subtle changes and have no significant impact on the overall visual effect.

Accordingly, the People's Court of Fengtai District, Beijing Municipality rendered a judgment of first instance, ordering Company H and Company T to cease the infringement involved in the case and compensate Company L Automobile for its economic losses and reasonable expenses totaling more than 50 yuan.

Company H and Company T appealed to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court against the first-instance judgment. The case was heard by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, which rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.

Kyo Xiao Hammer said

With the improvement of people's aesthetic level, works, especially art works, are widely used in the field of industry and commerce, such as product design, packaging and decoration, advertising, commercial logos, etc. On the contrary, some commodities in the field of industry and commerce have the originality and artistic beauty of the work while satisfying the practicality, so that they become applied works of art protected by the Copyright Law.

The law does not prohibit the right holder from enjoying multiple civil rights on the same subject matter, so in the field of intellectual property, one subject matter may belong to multiple intellectual property rights at the same time, and can be protected by the corresponding intellectual property sector law as long as it meets the protection conditions of the corresponding intellectual property sector law. Therefore, the judgment of this case particularly emphasized that regardless of whether L Automobile Company had claimed patent law protection for the mesh and bumper decorations involved in the case, it would not affect its claim for copyright law protection for the original artistic beauty of the decorations. The determination of whether there is infringement should also be made in accordance with the infringement comparison rules of different intellectual property sector laws.

Only by protecting innovation, rejecting "copycats", and taking the road of brand development of genuine and high-quality products can we remain invincible in the increasingly fierce market competition.

Links to legal provisions

Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 11: Copyrights belong to the author, except as otherwise provided by this Law.

The natural person who creates the work is the author.

A work that is presided over by a legal person or unincorporated organization, created on behalf of the will of the legal person or unincorporated organization, and for which the legal person or unincorporated organization bears responsibility, is deemed to be the author.

Article 53, Paragraph 1: Where any of the following tortious acts are committed, the civil liability provided for in Article 52 of this Law shall be borne according to the circumstances; Where the infringing act simultaneously harms the public interest, the department in charge of copyright shall order the infringing act to be stopped, give a warning, confiscate unlawful gains, confiscate and harmlessly destroy the infringing reproductions, as well as the materials, tools, equipment, and so forth that are mainly used to make infringing reproductions, and where the illegal business turnover is more than 50,000 yuan, a fine of between 1 and 5 times the illegal business turnover may be imposed concurrently; Where there is no illegal business revenue, the illegal business revenue is difficult to calculate, or is less than 50,000 RMB, a concurrent fine of up to 250,000 RMB may be given; where a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility is pursued in accordance with law: (1) Without the permission of the copyright owner, the work is reproduced, distributed, performed, screened, broadcasted, compiled, or disseminated to the public through information networks, except as otherwise provided by this Law.

Article 54: Paragraphs 1 to 3: Where copyright or copyright-related rights are infringed, the infringer shall compensate the right holder in accordance with the actual losses suffered by the right holder or the infringer's unlawful gains; Where it is difficult to calculate the actual losses of the rights holder or the illegal gains of the infringer, compensation may be made with reference to the royalties of the rights. Where copyright or copyright-related rights are intentionally infringed, and the circumstances are serious, compensation may be given between 1 and 5 times the amount determined in accordance with the methods described above.

Where it is difficult to calculate the actual losses of the rights holder, the illegal gains of the infringer, or the royalties of the rights, the people's court shall make a judgment to give compensation of not less than 500 yuan but not more than 5 million yuan based on the circumstances of the infringement.

The amount of compensation shall also include the reasonable expenses paid by the right holder to stop the infringement.

Regulations for the Implementation of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 2: "Works" as used in the Copyright Law refers to intellectual achievements in the fields of literature, art, and science that are original and can be reproduced in some tangible form.

Article 4, Paragraph 8 The meaning of the following works in the Copyright Law and these Regulations: (8) "Works of art" refers to paintings, calligraphy, sculptures, and other two-dimensional or three-dimensional plastic art works composed of lines, colors, or other means.

Contributed by: Fengtai Court

Editor: Yang Shixia and Wang Xi

Review: Zhang Zhongtao