Study On Substantial Similarity In Copyright Infringement Cases Of Computer Programs

Like most other countries in the world,China uses copyright laws to protect computer programs.As a "special" work,computer programs are different from other works in that they are "instrumental." With the rapid development of modern information technology,the computer program industry is developing rapidly,its economic value is constantly improving,and at the same time,computer programs are plagiarized.The infringement of copying is also very serious.Computer program infringement seriously damages the interests of right holders and undermines the technological innovation environment and market competition order.Therefore,it is inevitable that the punishment of computer program infringement will be strengthened and the level of intellectual property protection will be improved.Substantial similarity is the core link of computer program infringement identification.Although China’s copyright law has not yet specified the rules,it has been widely used in judicial practice and has become one of the commonly used methods of infringement in computer program infringement cases.However,how to make accurate judgments on substantive similarity has always been the focus and difficulty of judicial practice and theoretical research.This difficulty is not only from the judgment of complex legal level,but also from the professional knowledge and professional technical issues in the computer field.Different from the direct copying of program code by infringers in the early stage of computer program development,with the development of software technology,the illegal copying and plagiarism of infringers is more complicated and concealed.Most of them deal with the works of right holders through surface processing,but in essence It is still plagiarism,at which point the court needs to use substantive similarity as a criterion for determining such complex violations.Due to the original "expression" protected by the Copyright Law,it is first necessary to use the principle of dichotomy to judge whether the proceedings involved are within the scope of copyright law protection,and to judge the similarity under "expression." However,the similarity of the two procedures involved does not mean that the infringement is established.Only when the substantive part is similar,that is,the defendant illegally copied the essence and core part of the plaintiff’s procedure can determine that the infringement is established.Since there is no clear norm and operation method for the theoretical and practical circles in China,the United States has made a lot of discussions on the technological innovation of the software industry and formed the judgment standards such as SSO and AFC.The Stone of the Mountain can be used to attack jade,so it is useful to provide a useful reference and reference for combing and analyzing the relevant practices in American judicial practice.And select the typical cases in China’s judicial practice to extract the general laws,summarize the deficiencies and problems in the actual application,and finally put forward the general principles and specific judgment standards that should be observed in the substantive similarity judgment rules of computer programs.