"Visual China" in the font industry? Founder frequently sues users for "infringement" of fonts

Since last week, Visual China has become a hot topic due to the issue of image copyright ownership. What dissatisfied the majority of users is Visual China's "fishing for rights protection". However, in the general public’s understanding, pictures still have the concept of “copyright”, but the copyright of fonts is poorly understood. In the eyes of "passive infringement" users, because its rights protection method is similar to that of Visual China, Founder Font is jokingly called the Visual China of the font industry.

Users are unaware that they have "infringed"

In March 2019, Shanghai Maimiao Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Shanghai Maimiao) received a lawyer's letter from Beijing Peking University Founder Electronics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Founder Electronics). According to the letter, Founder Electronics believes that Shanghai Maimiao has used the Founder font in corporate logos and other commercial activities without its permission, and requires Shanghai Maimiao to either stop using the font or purchase the copyright to avoid liability.

"The font was designed by an advertising company, and we had no knowledge of the infringement." Wu Han, assistant to the general manager of Shanghai Maimiao, told a reporter from the Economic Observer on April 15, 2019. According to him, in mid-2015, Shanghai Maimiao Company was founded, and then commissioned the advertising company Guangzhou Bitou Culture Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Bitou Culture) to design the font for the company's logo "Maimiao Capital". At the end of 2015, both parties completed the delivery, and the delivered fonts were only used on the Shanghai company’s facade and business cards.

According to Wu Han, in 2016, the official website of Shanghai Maimiao Company was launched, and the website continued to use the logo. Around February 2019, Wang Kai, the sales manager of Founder Electronics in Shanghai, notified Shanghai Maimiao of infringement by phone, demanded compensation for the infringement, and suggested that it buy out the font copyright and be exempted from liability. After Shanghai Maimiao "refused to cooperate", it received a letter from a lawyer.

It is understood that the purchase price of the font copyright proposed by Founder Electronics is 13,500 yuan, and Bidian Culture is willing to pay 4,500 yuan as compensation (the original logo design fee was 3,000 yuan), and Shanghai Maimiao will pay the rest. Shanghai Maimiao believes that the company does not use the fonts for profit. In addition, Founder Electronics needs to provide proof of ownership of the font copyright.

However, the announcement of the Founder Font Intellectual Property User License Agreement on the official website of Founder Electronics states that any use of Founder fonts directly, format converted or modified for corporate names, trademarks and logos must obtain written authorization from Founder Electronics in advance.

"We downloaded the 'Mini Hanzhen Guangbiao Simplified' font from the Internet. The square one is 'Hanzhen Guangbiao Simplified', and there is no infringement at all." Wang Xue, Guangzhou Bitou Culture Media Co., Ltd., the designer of Shanghai Maimiao logo, said Economic Observer reporter said.

Picture and text have nothing to do with each other. Picture source: Photo Network

On December 11, 2015, Founder Electronics published a "solemn statement" on its official website, stating that the fonts in the "mini XX font" or "classic XX font" currently appearing on the Internet are all plagiarized from the Founder font library. The corresponding font in . According to this, the aforementioned advertising company uses "mini simplified Hanzhen advertisements" or "pirated" Founder fonts.

In this regard, Wang Xue believes that: when the advertising company downloaded and used it, it was clearly a free online version; when the use was completed, Founder Electronics did not issue a statement; Founder Electronics is fully capable of coordinating search engine companies to ban pirated fonts, and so far there are many "mini versions" It is still available for download. In Wang Xue's view, Founder Electronics "induced downloads" through online channels and then demanded compensation for infringement, which is essentially a kind of "fishing for rights protection."

In response to issues such as the reasonableness of the claim and the identification of the responsible party, a reporter from the Economic Observer called Wang Kai, the aforementioned sales manager of Founder Electronics. "Our claims are all reasonable and well-founded. I am not in a position to respond to other questions." This was Wang Kai's only reply.

Jin Jie, a lawyer at Beijing Jingdu Law Firm, told the Economic Observer reporter that infringement is divided into intentional infringement and negligent infringement. In addition to intentional infringement, if a user uses a copyrighted work due to negligence, even if the creator has not stated in advance that downloading and use requires permission or payment, regardless of whether it is subjectively intentional or not, using it for commercial purposes will objectively constitute infringement.

Regarding the aforementioned case, Jin Jie said that the key to using "online pirated" fonts is whether there have been substantial changes in the fonts and whether they have been re-created. If it is truly "piracy", in a legal sense, the "piracy party", the advertising company and the final user all constitute infringement. How to determine the subject of compensation and the extent of liability depends on how Founder Electronics asserts its rights.

Has Founder made "fishing for rights protection" a habit?

According to the official website of Founder Electronics, Founder Electronics currently has 452 Chinese fonts, 97 ethnic character fonts, 88 GBK fonts containing 21,003 Chinese characters, 36 GB18030-2000 fonts containing 27,533 Chinese characters, and 5 fonts containing 70,244 Chinese characters. font library.

In fact, as China's earliest professional manufacturer engaged in Chinese character library development and the world's largest supplier of Chinese character library products, Founder Electronics' "infringement claims" have become commonplace.

As early as June 2007, Founder Electronics caused a sensation by suing Blizzard Entertainment Inc. (hereinafter referred to as: Blizzard), a well-known American game company, for a sky-high price. Blizzard is the copyright holder of the Chinese version of the computer online game "World of Warcraft".

According to the judgment, Founder Electronics sued Blizzard and others for copying and installing five styles of Founder Northern Wei regular script and Founder paper-cutting from the copyrighted Founder Lanting font library in the client of the online game "World of Warcraft" without the permission of Founder Electronics. font. This resulted in a claim of 100 million yuan from Blizzard and other companies, which was increased to 408 million yuan in 2009. In 2010, the final judgment was made that Blizzard and other companies should compensate for economic losses of 1.4 million yuan and related litigation fees.

In fact, what users criticize most is the copyright of the "Microsoft Yahei" font. As an embedded font in the Windows operating system, Microsoft Yahei can be used directly without downloading and installing it. In the general public's perception, it is a universal font by default.

In March 2019, a consulting company in Chengdu used Microsoft Yahei font in promotional images on its official website and WeChat official account. Later, Founder Electronics informed me of the infringement and required me to purchase the copyright. It is understood that when Microsoft entered China, it commissioned Founder Electronics to create the Microsoft Yahei font, so the copyright belongs to Founder Electronics. Generally, it is free for personal use; for commercial purposes, copyright needs to be purchased.

Tianyancha information shows that Founder Electronics has a total of 273 legal proceedings, including 84 copyright-related legal disputes in which Founder Electronics is the plaintiff. In addition, from the perspective of time distribution, Founder Electronics’ rights protection lawsuits concentrated on after 2017. In the previous 13 years, Founder Electronics had only 25 legal actions, and there were no double-digit records.

From 2017 to March 2019, there were 248 litigation records, most of which appeared in 2018. This year, Founder Electronics was involved in numerous copyright disputes, with the defendants ranging from large supermarket chains to regional small food processing plants. In Tieba, Weibo, and some unknown self-media public accounts, it is not difficult to find complaints from users who have been claimed for non-malicious infringement.

How to "reasonably safeguard" font copyright?

According to the official website of Founder Electronics, the company's four fonts that are clearly free are: Founder Black, Founder Shu Song, Founder Fake Song, and Founder Kai. The rest are not free, and the specific payment standards vary according to different uses.

Founder Electronics mainly divides the use of computer fonts into three types: internal use, which refers to the behavior of individuals or units installing and using fonts on their internal terminal equipment, including displaying on the screen and outputting from the printer; built-in use, Refers to converting the font file in whole or in part, directly or in format, and then embedding it into websites, computer programs, or electronic products with visual display functions; commercial publishing refers to using fonts as visual design elements for profit-making purposes , for reproduction, distribution, exhibition, screening, information network dissemination, broadcasting, etc.

"Commercial publishing" is considered by Founder Electronics to be the most important way to use fonts, and it is also the area where disputes over its works have been concentrated.

Users, including the aforementioned Bidian Culture, believe that if it is a paid product, Founder Electronics should prompt for payment when downloading and using it, or "those who do not pay are not allowed to use it" instead of using the current "fishing" method of claiming compensation afterwards. , making users very passive and easily causing dissatisfaction.

Jin Jie believes that in a general sense, if a copyrighted font is posted on the Internet, there should be a prompt stating that the ownership belongs to Founder Electronics. If it is used, it must be authorized by Founder Electronics or paid. "If the font is not prompted, the intention of posting it online needs to be defined: if it is to display the company's works, others cannot use it; if it is an open channel and there is no clear explanation, it is difficult to determine whether the user's use has constituted infringement. . However, even though users mistakenly think it is free, using it for commercial purposes actually constitutes infringement, and this type is prone to disputes."

Regarding the embedded fonts in the Windows operating system, Jin Jie also said, "The general public will default to universal free fonts for fonts embedded in computer documents. It would be unfair to the public to claim rights on this. Fonts placed in universal space , itself is provided for public use. If the use requires permission from the right holder, there should be a special reminder. If there is no reminder, it should not be placed in a general space. Otherwise, it will demand the public’s general understanding. According to common sense, it should be placed in a general space. Fonts are free for the public to use, which is also in line with the general public perception." He reminded that users should be cautious when using special fonts for commercial purposes and consider whether they may constitute infringement.

(Economic Observer)