Research On The Protection Of Anti-Unfair Competition Law For Merchandising Right Of Character

Merchandising right of character is a new type of property rights which appeared with the development of commodity economy. It originated in the movement of commercialization in the United States, and then it was applied and spread widely through out the world. The legal disputes of virtual images are on the increase at present, but the study of merchandising right of character in China is still on the initial stage of the theory research and the lawful rights and interests of rights-holders are not protected efficiently. Based on the research achievement from domestic and overseas, this paper has inquired into the basic theory of merchandising right of character in its entirety and defined the concept. The merchandising right of character refers to the intangible property rights of achieving the secondary development of famous characters which from artistic and literary works. Besides, this paper also does research on China’s conservation status through analyzing typical cases and draws lessons from foreign countries, and offers a suggestion that using the anti-unfair competition law to protect this new type of right.This thesis was divided into four chapters except for the foreword and the conclusion. The preface of this dissertation makes a brief comment on three typical cases in recent years which leading to the subject. The conclusion part reiterates the research findings and emphasizes the theme that it should apply the anti-unfair competition law to protect merchandising right of character.The first part makes a comprehensive treatise on the basic theory of merchandising right of characters, reviewing the historical evolution, discussing its nature and defining its concept.The second part introduces different legal protection modes of some main countries in the world and points out their advantages and deficiencies, which provides overseas reference experience for China.The third chapter discusses China’s conservation status and its deficiencies and illustrates the advantages of applying the anti-unfair competition law to protect merchandising right of character.Finally, this thesis focus on the methods of improving the anti-unfair competition law to fulfill its functions of protecting this new type of right:defining the unfair competition acts of the right, making clear laws of the right’s construction, expanding the scope of subject in the anti-unfair competition law and making general clause.