The mutton products sold in large supermarkets have a few round and cute Chinese characters on the outer packaging, but they have provoked a lawsuit. A food company in Ningxia and a supermarket in Xiamen both became defendants, and a font company came to Xiamen to defend its rights.
The 20th to 26th of this month is the 2023 National Intellectual Property Publicity Week. The Siming District Court issued a copyright dispute about fonts. The judge said that the use of fonts involves copyright issues, but they are often ignored by everyone.
Reporter Peng Fei Correspondent Thinking
【case】
The font has obtained the copyright registration certificate, and the defendant argues that the font is not a work of art
The font library company sued, claiming that in June 1997, the company signed a manuscript purchase contract with the Shanghai Institute of Printing Technology; after further creation, it published A artistic font for the first time in 2000, and obtained a copyright registration certificate in May 2008. Without permission, the food company used the A font for 8 Chinese characters on the product packaging, and the supermarket sold the above-mentioned products. In December 2021, the font company entrusted a notary agency to notarize the evidence preservation of the product's logo and sales status. For this reason, the font company requires the food company and the supermarket to stop the infringement immediately, and the food company should pay compensation.
During the trial, the food company raised an objection, arguing that Chinese characters are a tool for information exchange and should not be monopolized by anyone. The font itself should not be a work of art protected by copyright law. When designing the packaging, it downloaded free trial fonts from a third party. The food company also pointed out that consumers buy mutton products because of the popularity of the product itself, not because of the typeface used on the outer packaging.
The supermarket operator stated that the source of the products sold is legal, and the contract signed with the supplier also includes the supplier's commitment, that is, the commitment that "the products sold, their packaging, labels, and the delivery and sale of the products do not infringe the rights of any third party in any way." rights, including but not limited to intellectual property rights”, it is difficult for supermarkets to know possible infringements of packaging. After a dispute occurs, the store promptly removes the product from the shelves and seals it up for disposal.
【judgment】
After the court session, the original packaging was still used, and the court found that the infringement was more serious
After the trial, the Siming District Court held that the font library company created the A font, registered its copyright with the National Copyright Administration, and enjoyed the copyright according to the law. The 8 Chinese characters used on the package of mutton products have the unique artistic features of A font. Although the food company justifies downloading the font library from a third party, it clearly states in the downloaded compressed package that "any commercial profit-related purpose shall not be used, otherwise all The consequences will be borne by you.” The behavior of the food company infringed on the copying and distribution rights of the 8 words enjoyed by the font company. The sales behavior of the supermarket also constitutes the distribution behavior in the sense of copyright law, which is an infringement of the copyright of the font company.
The Siming District Court also found that the food company has sold products using the A font in its online store since 2018, and the sales volume exceeded 500,000 pieces. After the trial of this case, the food company still used the font and did not pay the usage fee. The court believed that the infringement of the food company was more serious and the subjective malice was greater. On this basis, with reference to the market price authorized by the font company, the font company claimed compensation of 54,000 yuan for economic losses, which is well-founded in law.
In the end, the Siming District Court ruled that the food company should immediately stop using the product packaging containing the font A; the supermarket should immediately stop selling the corresponding products; the food company should compensate the font company for economic losses of 54,000 yuan, as well as the notary fees and lawyers’ expenses to stop the infringement. The cost is more than 15,000 yuan.
【Judge's statement】
Don't use fonts indiscriminately, beware of copyright infringement!
Although Chinese characters have fixed writing standards, the shapes, strokes, and structure collocations of characters can be presented in different styles and styles, and there is a large space for creativity. Fonts can also become works of art and are protected by copyright law. Unauthorized use of fonts presents a risk of copyright infringement. Many users have weak legal awareness and luckily use fonts to engage in commercial activities, resulting in many infringement lawsuits.
The judge reminded font users to inquire about the copyright status of fonts before using them, pay attention to the free announcement of font library manufacturers, and reduce the download of fonts from third parties. Even the fonts that come with office software and design software may not be commercially available. Secondly, when conducting commercial promotion or product rendering, choose to purchase fonts from regular font manufacturers. If there is infringement on corporate logos or commonly used commodity packaging, the impact on corporate brand image and daily operations will be more complicated, so don't lose too much because of small things.
Source: Xiamen Evening News
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