The use of Microsoft Yahei is actually infringing? This company's font rights protection has been complained

(Original title: Using Microsoft Yahei actually infringes copyright? This company’s font rights protection has been complained about. The truth is..)

"If those who engage in self-media have not received the lawyer's letter from Visual China, it means that they are not big enough;If those who engage in design have not received the lawyer's letter from Founder, it also means that their influence is not enough. Myself Reflect". On a well-known website, a netizen's comment got a lot of likes.

e company noticed that in the past two days, Visual China has stood at the forefront of public opinion because of the copyright "black hole", and it is often brought up at the same time, as well as Peking University Founder's font copyright dispute "black hole".

Among them, the copyright of fonts such as Microsoft Yahei, which is embedded in Windows, is the most controversial. Some professionals pointed out that Fangzheng's font rights protection should not be confused with Visual China's rights protection, but the method of rights protection is debatable. Founder should clarify the charging standard when users use its charging fonts, so as to avoid accountability afterwards.

Using Microsoft's own fonts is accused of copyright infringement? How many users don't know

"It's so depressing. I received a call from Founder staff early that morning, saying that our company used their paid fonts, which involved infringement, and sent us a lawyer's letter." Mr. Qin, the person in charge of a startup company in Shenzhen, recently Said to e company. Mr. Qin, who was in the start-up period, received a similar letter from a lawyer for the first time. When he checked the company, he found that because the company used Microsoft Yahei fonts for the design of the company's VI system, as well as the WeChat public account and website design, he did not expect to be rejected. Founder obtained evidence and believed that it had infringed on Founder's copyright.

In the letter shown by Mr. Qin to the reporter of e Company, the content listed the time and content of the WeChat tweets that the company had used in Microsoft Blackface, and it was sent in the form of screenshots, which was very detailed and accurate, and some tweets were as early as 2017. Year. Mr. Qin said he was very surprised, "The rights protection has reached such an accurate level, which is enough to see that the other party has been investigating and collecting evidence for a long time."

Mr. Qin said that according to the contact information provided in the letter, he got in touch with Founder Company. The other company stated that unless it purchased the company's paid products, it would directly file a lawsuit with the company. This time made Mr. Qin a little flustered, ‘We are a small start-up company, and we can’t afford to go to court, so we had to admit that we were unlucky and delete all the company’s previous product announcements. "

There is actually more than one person who had a similar experience with Mr. Qin. A little search on the search will find that there are not a few people who have been issued a lawyer's letter by Fangzheng to stop the infringement. A Taobao shopkeeper also posted a case of being defended by Founder.

Among the many disputes involving copyright, Microsoft Yahei has been complained the most. Microsoft Yahei is an embedded font of the Windows operating system. Although it can be used in the Microsoft system, the copyright has actually entered China from Microsoft and is owned by Founder of Peking University. However, if the user displays and prints on a non-Windows operation, copyright is involved, and a certain copyright fee needs to be maintained. However, many users do not carefully read the relevant charging terms when using Microsoft Yahei fonts. Therefore, after using Founder's paid fonts, Fang Zheng sent a lawyer's letter to defend his rights, expressing his dissatisfaction.

In March of this year, a Weibo rumor made Fangzheng's font rights protection a hot search. The screenshot shows that a company intern was sued by Founder Group and Adobe for using Microsoft Yahei and pirated PS. The sample printing factory has printed 5,000 copies and has been commercialized nationwide. The company lost 28.6 million yuan and laid off 8 supervisors and 43 people.

Later, although Founder Font’s official Weibo responded and explained that the authorization fee had nothing to do with the printing quantity, the font authorization fee for advertisements was 4,500 yuan.

Is rights protection a sales promotion? Fangzheng is full of tricks

"My feeling is to sell (their paid fonts). I didn't see a reminder when I used it. After I used it, I was told that it was infringing. The purpose of phishing law enforcement was actually to buy other fonts." Mr. Qin said.

Tianyancha found that Founder has had copyright disputes with many companies, involving dozens of lawsuits a year, all of which were filed by Founder as the plaintiff, suing companies for copyright infringement, and most of the final results ended with Founder withdrawing the lawsuit.

Prior to this, Fangzheng sued Guangzhou Procter & Gamble, the producers of "33 Days of Broken Love", and the producers of "Nine-story Demon Tower" for font infringement. Among them, in 2008, Fangzheng sued Guangzhou Procter & Gamble because of the use of Chinese characters on the packaging of Rejoice and other products, and claimed 1.34 million yuan, but ultimately lost the lawsuit. As for "33 Days of Broken Love", due to the use of unauthorized fonts in the opening subtitles and text message subtitles, the copyright owner was finally paid 20,000 yuan.

A relevant person pointed out that Founder’s lawsuit against copyright has several characteristics. First, the difference between the amount claimed and the actual court judgment is relatively large. The second is that Founder generally sues large companies more often, while small companies generally use the combination of Founder's rights protection and sales, and the two parties try to settle the case in a cooperative way outside the court. "Actually, it's understandable. Because infringements are widespread, small companies illegally use paid fonts, and Founder can't do anything about it. After all, there are too many such companies."

Involving Hong Kong stock company Founder Holdings

e Company noticed that the subject of font rights protection widely mentioned by netizens is Beijing Peking University Founder Electronics Co., Ltd. According to official information, Founder Electronics is the copyright owner of the font series of Founder Type. It is the earliest professional manufacturer engaged in the development of Chinese fonts in China, and it is also the largest supplier of Chinese fonts in the world. It now has 452 Chinese fonts, 97 national fonts, 88 GBK fonts containing 21,003 Chinese characters, and 36 containing 27,533 Chinese characters. The GB18030-2000 font library for Chinese characters has 5 super large font libraries containing 70,244 Chinese characters.

Peking University Founder Electronics Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Founder Holdings (00418.HK), a Hong Kong-listed company. According to the 2018 annual report of Founder Holdings, Founder Electronics has occupied an absolute leading position in the font market.

Founder Electronics has contributed a lot to the parent company Founder Holdings. As of December 31, 2018, Founder Holdings achieved a revenue of HK$1.059 billion and a gross profit of HK$516 million.

Professionals believe that the proper orientation of font copyright is questionable

About Visual China's rights protection for pictures and Founder's rights protection for fonts, although they have been continuously raised by netizens in recent days, e Company has learned from several legal professionals that the two should not be confused. Some legal professionals believe that Fangzheng is obviously more certain about the copyright of the fonts developed by itself than the copyright of the black hole pictures in Visual China. Therefore, it can be seen that most of the court judgments support Founder's legal copyright.

However, in terms of the way and orientation of rights protection, many professionals believe that it is worth discussing. Zhao Bo, a lawyer at Wanshang Tianqin (Shenzhen) Law Firm, believes that the rights protection behavior of copyright owners should be treated rationally. Owners of intellectual property rights can protect their legitimate rights and interests from infringement within the legal framework in accordance with the law, but they cannot claim false "rights" in a false way. In terms of rights protection methods, Founder fonts should be used to remind customers in a clearer and more obvious way before using them, such as warmly reminding the charging standard when downloading and using, so as to avoid the occurrence of accountability after the event.