Is "emoticon pack" protected by copyright?
Online characters created in accordance with the provisions of the copyright law belong to works protected by the copyright law.
"Expression pack", a combination of lines, colors, shapes and other elements, has an external form objectively perceived by others and has certain aesthetic significance. It constitutes a work of art in the copyright law and will be protected by the copyright law.
Copyright: refers to the property rights and spiritual rights enjoyed by natural persons, legal persons or other organizations in literary, artistic and scientific works. The object of copyright is a work, and a work refers to an intellectual achievement that is original and can be expressed in a certain form in the fields of literature, art and science. A work in the legal sense has the following conditions: (1) originality. (2) Expressed in tangible form. When the creation of a work is completed, as long as the legal conditions of the work are met, the copyright arises. The copyright owner may apply to the copyright administration department of China for copyright registration, but registration is not a statutory condition for the creation of copyright.
The lawyer added:
With the rapid development of the online media industry, the unauthorized use of online characters on WeChat official account or other platforms may infringe on the copyright owner's personality rights, such as the right of signature, the right to protect the integrity of works, and may also infringe on his property rights, such as the right of information network communication and the right of adaptation.
The infringer shall, according to the circumstances, bear civil liabilities such as stopping the infringement, eliminating the influence, apologizing and compensating for the losses. If the infringement damages the public interests at the same time, the copyright administrative department shall be responsible for administrative punishment; If a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.
When making commercial use of works such as Online Yan Wen Zi, we should strengthen the awareness of copyright protection to prevent the occurrence of infringement.