Research On The Path Of Legal Protection Of Television Program Formats In China

With the rapid development of the television program industry,the trading scale of the television program format market is getting larger and larger.Due to the uncertainty of the cost and income of original programs,the phenomenon of embezzling other’s original formats and program plagiarism has intensified.As a new thing that emerged in practice,there are different opinions on the definition of formats.In the rational measurement of freedom of creation and protection of intellectual property rights,countries have different attitudes towards formats.In china,the legal nature of the television program format is not clear,and there are no relevant guiding cases to guide the practice operation,which makes many disputes not settled.The ways in which the anti-unfair competition law and contract law protect program formats have obvious defects.In view of the fact that television program formats are in the field of culture and entertainment,many scholars and industry insiders have advocated that they should be protected by copyright law.However,there is no relevant legal provisions in china to regulate this,and the copyright management department also refuses to provide copyright registration for television program formats.By studying relevant domestic and foreign cases and the content characteristics of TV program format,demonstrate the change in the judicial attitude towards TV program formats due to the development of the TV program industry,and summarizes the experience of various countries in handling television program format plagiarism disputes.From the perspective of judicial trial and format registration system,based on practical experience,combined with the content characteristics of television program formats,explore the legal protection of television program formats to standardize the development of the television program format market and promote originality.The full text is divided into the following six parts:The first part introduces the research object of this article.First,introduce the production process of television programs and clarify the birth process and functions of television program formats.Secondly,introduces several theories about the definition of television program formats,and then summarizes the definition of television program formats that are systematically objective and in line with practical experience based on the production process of television programs.Finally,according to the production process and content of the format,the common characteristics of the format are summarized.The second part combs and compares the status quo of legal protection of television program formats at domestic and abroad.Respectively introduced foreign and domestic related cases,summarized several protection methods of the format,and summarized the experience and enlightenment that can be used for reference.The third part introduces the current dilemma faced by the legal protection of television program formats in china.Anti-unfair competition law and contract law have obvious limitations;the legal nature of formats is still controversial,and there are many obstacles to the use of copyright law to protect formats.The fourth part explores the protection of television program formats through copyright law.First,clarify the work attributes of the television program format,when satisfying the requirements of the copyright object,the TV program formats can constitute a work.Secondly,introduce the global model.There are two ways to protect television program formats through the copyright law:substantive judgmentism and legal typology,analyzing the pros and cons,and adopting substantive judgmentism is more suitable for chinese copyright law system.Finally,tries to improve the copyright infringement identification standards of television program formats from both the judgment standard and the judgment subject.The fifth part explores the protection of undisclosed documents in the initial stage of format creation with the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.The protection approach of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law is divided into two parts.First of all,it is necessary to determine the legal attributes of the documents and determine whether the "program creative book" or similar documents meet the standards for the determination of trade secrets.After determining that the document constitutes a trade secret,the principle of "contact+substantially the same-legal source" is adopted to discuss whether the perpetrator constitutes an infringement.After analyzing the legal settlement of television program format disputes,the sixth part attempts to establish a television program format registration system that includes substantive review.First,clarify the significance of this system:it can prevent disputes,make up for the deficiencies of the copyright judicial compensation system,and make the management of television program formats more refined and institutionalized.Next,based on the nature and characteristics of the format,drawing on the patent review standards,making appropriate modifications,interpretation and use,and constructing a television program format application review standard suitable for the needs of practice.Finally,analyze some possible unauthorized use of formats,and attach special regulations to registered formats to maintain market order and prevent applicants from abusing registration rights.