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Engineering design drawings can also cause intellectual property disputes, and the first Hilton stand in Hubei is in trouble!

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2021-03-19 10:31:52

Wuhan Optics Valley Hilton Hotel is the first Hilton hotel in Hubei Province and has a good reputation in the industry Service reputation. However, the hotel's engineering design drawings caused an intellectual property dispute

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Because Shanghai Dushe Architectural Design Office Co., Ltd. (Part 2) (called Dushi Company), former employee Ling Moumou and others used their own copyrighted engineering design drawings without authorization. The hotel's design unit, East China Architectural Design Institute Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as East China Design Institute), sued them in court. Recently, the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court made a final judgment on the case, upholding the original judgment that the drawings used by Dushi Company in the article on the WeChat public account "Dushi Design" did not constitute an infringement of the copyright enjoyed by East China Design Institute on the engineering design drawings involved in the case. Infringement, but Dushi Company’s series of publicity can easily mislead the public into thinking that Dushi Company is the design unit of Wuhan Optics Valley Hilton Hotel project, and associate Dushi Company’s design capabilities with the performance of Wuhan Optics Valley Hilton Hotel, thereby improperly strengthening its reputation in the Optics Valley Hilton Hotel. Competitiveness in market selection, such misleading publicity constitutes unfair competition, etc., and the company must compensate East China Design Institute for economic losses totaling 614,500 yuan.

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In fact, it is not uncommon to find copyright disputes over engineering design drawings caused by the resignation of employees. In such cases, the two parties often dispute the central issue of whether the design drawings involved are the work of a legal person or the work of a professional. In this regard, Zhao Hu, a partner at Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm, said in an interview with a reporter from China Intellectual Property News that since the designer played a leading role in designing the drawings, it is more appropriate to classify it as a special work.

Resulting in disagreement over signature

The East China Design Institute was established in 1993. Its business scope includes professional construction engineering design for architecture, municipal professional construction engineering design, and special design for landscape architecture construction projects. It was established in 2004, and its business scope is architecture and planning design, art design, and corporate marketing planning. Ling Moumou was a former employee of East China Design Institute. He joined the company in July 2004 and resigned in February 2012. A labor contract was signed with Dushi Company on February 24, 2012. The contract stipulated that Ling's position in the company was chief architect.

In February 2010, as the designer, East China Design Institute and The third party Wuhan Eco-City Country Garden Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Country Garden Company) signed a construction engineering design contract for the Wuhan Optics Valley Hilton Hotel project, and it was agreed that Country Garden Company entrusted the designer to undertake the engineering design of the Wuhan Eco-City Country Garden Conference Center Hotel and deliver the construction drawing design Documents, etc. Annex 1 of the contract is the "List of Main Designers", in which the person in charge of design is Ling Moumou. East China Design Institute believes that Dushe Company's WeChat official account "Dushe Design" and its official website and Ling Moumou's WeChat The public account "Materials Online" used the engineering design drawings and architectural works pictures of East China Design Institute, and did not specify the authorship of East China Design Institute, even though it was clearly known that East China Design Institute was the designer of the project involved and had the right to sign. Ling Moumou In the article on the WeChat public account, he signed "Dushi Design" on the engineering design drawings and architectural works pictures of the East China Design Institute in the form of picture watermarks. The defendant's behavior is suspected of infringing the signature right of the East China Design Institute, and he should be responsible for stopping the infringement and eradicating it. The lawsuit was brought to the Shanghai Yangpu District People's Court (hereinafter referred to as the Yangpu Court).

In the first instance, the plaintiff and defendant disagreed on whether East China Design Institute had the right to sign the engineering design drawings. East China Design Institute maintains that the engineering design drawings of Wuhan Optics Valley Hilton Hotel are the work of a legal person and enjoy full copyright. The defendant believed that the engineering design drawings were special work and the right of signature did not belong to East China Design Institute.

In this regard, the Yangpu Court held that according to the second paragraph of Article 16 of the Copyright Law, projects that mainly use the material and technical conditions of legal persons or other organizations are created and for which the legal persons or other organizations bear the responsibility. Design drawings are special job works, and the author enjoys the right of signature. Other rights of copyright are enjoyed by legal persons or other organizations. Based on this, the engineering design drawing involved in the case constitutes a special job work, and the author of the work has the right of signature on the work. East China Design Institute does not have the right of signature on this, but the establishment of a company constitutes unfair competition.

After the first-instance verdict, both East China Design Institute and Dushi Company were dissatisfied and appealed. The Shanghai Intellectual Property Court made the above judgment after a trial and upheld the first instance judgment.

Defining the type of work

So, in such disputes, how to define whether a design drawing is a legal person's work or a professional work?

"Engineering design drawings should belong to "Special job works." Zhao Hu said that according to the relevant provisions of the Copyright Law on legal person works and job works, the key to distinguishing legal person works and job works is as follows: Legal person works emphasize that the legal person or unincorporated organization presides over and represents its will. At this time, it plays a decisive role in the direction and development of the work. The natural person who completes the will has no originality or low originality; while the job work emphasizes the creation made by the unit employees to complete their own work tasks, and the unit employees At this time, the author often has the final say on the work, and the creative process reflects more of the creator's own thoughts and will. From this point of view, for engineering design drawings, the design drawings ultimately reflect the designer's creative results, which are the creative activities carried out by the designer with his own professional knowledge and design concepts. They also reflect the designer's understanding of the design. The leadership of the work, rather than simply working according to the command of the unit.

In similar cases, although it is difficult for the parties to claim protection of their signature rights, are there other legal protection channels? In this regard, Zhao Hu believes that there are many similar disputes caused by personnel movements, so enterprises In order to protect one's own intellectual property rights, it is necessary not only to strengthen the monitoring of external infringement, but also to strictly impose restrictions on employees of the unit, such as signing non-competition restrictions and confidentiality agreements. When similar situations such as the leakage of professional works or the unit's business secrets occur, the relevant units must This can be used to hold the violator accountable, thus ensuring the protection of relevant information in advance and making up for possible losses when infringement occurs.

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