Eighteenth Keynote Speech of the "Fudan TNCs and Law Forum" Legal Risks of Infringement in Game Export

Updated: 09,28,2021

On September 24, 2021, the eighteenth keynote speech of the "Fudan Transnational Corporations and Law Forum" was held successfully online. This speech titled "Legal Risks of Infringement in Game Export" was hosted by Professor MA Zhongfa of Fudan University Law School, delivered by Mr XING Cheng, Senior Legal Adviser of Tencent International Business Law Center, and commented by Professor WANG Qian of East China University of Political Science and Law, a renowned expert in intellectual property law.

Mr XING began the speech with an introduction of the current industrial environment of game export. As a general matter, he pointed out that game companies are motivated to seek greater market opportunities through the "export" of games due to the adjustments of domestic policies and the prospect of foreign markets. Game export has already become a common practice in today's game industry. Mr XING proceeded to introduce the basic concept of game export. In the narrow sense, "game export" refers to the overseas distribution of games; in the broad sense, "game export" also includes investment in overseas game companies, cooperation in game development, live game broadcasting and E-sports. After defining the concept of game export, Mr XING briefly introduced its basic framework and the potential legal problems that a game company may encounter, including legal restrictions on investment, age rating policies, personal information protection requirements, etc. Subsequently, focusing on legal risks of infringement in game export, Mr XING introduced relevant issues of game export, such as the infringement risks that game companies need to control and the corresponding strategies. Specifically, the legal risk control in game export is supposed to encompass controlling contract responsibilities, resolving complaints from relevant parties, litigations and game reputation, and pay attention to the negotiation and drafting of contract terms, the building of internal risk control system in game companies, and the affairs of public relations and litigations, etc. Lastly, Mr XING elaborated on the possible legal infringement risks in game export from two dimensions: the various elements in game design, such as the design of game playing methods, the use of trademarks or trade dress, and various game types, such as action-adventure games and card games.

Professor WANG Qian of East China University of Political Science and Law discussed and commented on four issues: whether a broader scope of intellectual property rights agreed in the contract is valid, whether the use of a real car model in game design would constitute an intellectual property infringement, whether the parameters used in game design can be protected by copyright, and whether the use of real-world artistic works or buildings can constitute the fair use of copyright. Mr XING and Professor WANG had an in-depth discussion with the audience in the Q&A session.

On October 8, 2021, the Forum will host the nineteenth keynote speech titled "IP Issues under the Trend of Videoizing" by LIU Nan, General Manager of Bilibili's legal department.


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