Online games derived from "Journey to the West", "Water Margin" and "Three Kingdoms" may be sued for infringement and completely blocked
The game trademarks of China's four famous masterpieces will soon be banned by Japan The company's preemptive registration was successful. Recently, Liao Junming, chairman of the Guangdong Honghui Trademark Office, revealed to reporters that the four famous game trademarks will be approved and registered by the National Trademark Office starting from March 28. Once the Japanese company successfully registers, then domestic game companies are currently Online games derived from "Journey to the West", "Water Margin" and "Three Kingdoms" will face the risk of being sued for infringement and being completely blocked.
There are three consequences of being registered for classic game trademarks
China’s four major classics are the most popular themes in the animation and game industry in recent years. In 2005, NetEase's online game service revenue reached 1.38 billion yuan with only two games, "Fantasy Westward Journey Online" and "Westward Journey Online II". However, in this wave of online game development craze, many Chinese companies have neglected to apply for registration of the four famous trademarks, and now Japanese companies have taken the lead.
Experts analyze that if a Japanese company successfully registers the trademarks of China's four famous games, it will have a huge impact on Chinese animation companies. The first is that online games derived from "Journey to the West", "Water Margin" and "Three Kingdoms" in the domestic animation industry are facing the devastating fate of being accused of infringement and being completely blocked. Once a Japanese company successfully registers the game trademarks of China's four famous classics, it will raise the "big stick" of WTO rules at the appropriate time and sweep all the networks derived from "Journey to the West", "Water Margin" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in the domestic animation industry. The game is "cleared". The second is that people have long argued about the idea that "Japanese games tamper with history, and American games fabricate the future." It is also obvious that the anti-China tendency of foreign game content is getting stronger, and some games with anti-China tendencies produced by Japanese companies have been repeatedly banned by the country. The General Administration of Press and Publication and the Ministry of Culture announced a ban on distribution. The third is that domestic game players are mainly teenagers, with a population of nearly 100 million. If foreign companies put some contrary content into games and disseminate it, it is self-evident that it will have a negative impact on the education of young people and its serious consequences.
There are still opportunities to raise objections in the near future
It is understood that as of recently, the State Trademark Office has not received any objections to Japanese companies’ preemptive registration of China’s four famous game trademarks application. "If no one raises objections to this, especially with the promulgation of the Regulations on the Protection of Information Network Communication Rights of the State Council within the year, China's animation and game industry has reached a dangerous moment in a sense." Liao Junming said.
Liao Junming also pointed out that most companies in the domestic animation industry have registered trademarks for their company names. It should be clear that registering a trademark only costs about 2,000 yuan, and filing an objection application against a trademark that has been announced after preliminary review It only costs 3,000 to 5,000 yuan. Domestic animation industry companies have not filed any objections to the four famous Chinese game trademarks registered by Japanese companies, which reveals the lack of trademark protection awareness in the domestic animation industry.
According to the query results of the Honghui International Intellectual Property Agency Chain to the Trademark Office, in addition to "Dream Water Margin", "Three Kingdoms", "The Legend of Kong Ming", "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and other several years In addition to the trademarks previously applied for by Japanese game companies that were approved for registration because there were no objections, the remaining trademarks listed above have passed the preliminary review and announcement, but are still in the opposition period.
Liao Junming also reminded that relevant domestic departments or enterprises and anyone can apply for a registered trademark in accordance with Article 31 of the Trademark Law, "Applications for registered trademarks shall not damage the existing prior rights of others," and Article 30 "Anyone may file an objection to a preliminary approved trademark within 3 months from the date of announcement" and other relevant regulations. For trademarks that Japanese game companies applied for first, they can file objection applications within the announcement period and request The Trademark Office withdrew its application and refused to approve the registration.
For those trademarks that were registered first by Japanese game companies, they can also submit dispute applications to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board in accordance with the provisions of my country's Trademark Law, and request the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to rule on revoking their registered trademarks.
Reporter Observation: It is urgent to protect the property rights of online games and animations
"Journey to the West" is one of China's four great classics and is an outstanding cultural and historical heritage of China. At present, domestic online games derived from "Journey to the West" include NetEase's "Westward Journey", "Westward Journey 2", "Fantasy Westward Journey", Jiucheng's "Happy Westward Journey" and many other mainstream games, although they are similar to "Journey to the West". "Journey to the West" is related to "Journey to the West", but the game name used has always been a side ball, because the game name trademark "Journey to the West" has been registered by Jumo Company. This cannot but be said to be a tragedy for domestic game manufacturers.
Japanese game companies are very clever in registering Chinese classics as game trademarks. They will apply to register one classic as multiple series trademarks, paving the way for the launch of a series of games in the future. For example, after Guangrong Company preemptively registered "Three Kingdoms" on December 19, 2002, it also preempted "Three Kingdoms - Galloping on the Battlefield", "Three Kingdoms Network", "Three Kingdoms Unparalleled", etc. on March 2, 2004. 8 series of trademarks. In addition, trademarks such as "The Legend of Kong Ming" have also been registered. Jumo Company preemptively registered trademarks such as "Journey to the West", "Water Margin", "Three Kingdoms Mahjong" and "Jumo Three Kingdoms Mahjong" on March 9, 2004. Konami Corporation registered trademarks such as "Suikoden" on May 14, 2003. From the fact that several of the above-mentioned Japanese companies have coincidentally and cross-registered trademarks related to "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin", it can be seen that their enthusiasm is so high. At the same time, it is reported that many game companies in Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States have now developed the idea of ????four major categories of martial arts novels: "martial arts secret novels, swordsman novels of gods and demons, social martial arts novels, and romantic martial arts novels".
However, the introduction of private capital into the cultural industry will become a general trend in the future. In particular, Guangdong has obvious advantages in developing the online game industry. First of all, it is the attention paid by the government management department, which has included the online game animation industry in the development plan of the cultural industry; secondly, Guangdong is a traditional national cartoon province, and many cartoonists have switched to animation in recent years and have strong creative capabilities. . In addition, the opening ceremony of the National Online Game and Animation Industry Development Guangzhou Base was held in Guangzhou last year. Guangzhou has become the fourth national online game and animation industry development base planned and established by the State Administration of Press and Publication in the country after Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. In 2004, Guangzhou's operating income from online games alone reached 610 million yuan, accounting for about a quarter of the country's total. Rough statistics show that animation sales also amounted to about 200 million yuan. Among the more than 30 existing online game and animation-related companies, Guangzhou NetEase and Guangtong have independently developed large-scale online game products.
"It is urgent to protect the intellectual property rights of online animation!" Liao Junming said worriedly. Generally speaking, the current protection of animation intellectual property rights is still weak, lacking effective weapons to restrict competitors, and has become a bottleneck for its own development.
Background information The rapid growth of online games has caused disputes
According to statistics released at the "2005 China Game Industry Annual Conference", the sales revenue of online games in 2005 reached 3.77 billion yuan. , an increase of 52.6 compared with 2004, and the growth rate far exceeded the original expectations. The rapid growth of online games has also directly promoted the development of surrounding industries. In 2005, the revenue from telecommunications services related to online games was 17.34 billion yuan, the related revenue from the IT industry was 7.16 billion yuan, and the related revenue from the publishing industry was 3.71 billion yuan. , the overall contribution of the game industry to related industries has far exceeded 30 billion yuan.
Faced with the huge Chinese game market, foreign industry giants are all coveting it, especially Japanese companies, which are known for their shrewdness.
In recent years, Japanese game manufacturers have entered the mainland game market on a large scale. Sega and SQUAREENIX, two Japanese industry giants, took the lead in establishing domestic game departments last year. Sony and Nintendo launched game consoles such as PS2 and GBA through direct distribution and indirect agency.
Learn more What is intellectual property?
Intellectual property is a kind of intangible property right. It refers to the results obtained by intellectual creative labor, and it is a right that intellectual workers enjoy in accordance with the law on their results.
This kind of right is called personal rights and property rights, also called moral rights and economic rights. The so-called personal rights refer to rights that are inseparable from the person who has achieved intellectual achievements, and are the legal reflection of personal relationships. For example, the author's right to sign on his work, or the right to publish or modify his work, etc., is a moral right; the so-called property right means that after the intellectual achievements are recognized by law, the obligee can use these intellectual achievements to obtain rewards or The right to be rewarded, this right is also called economic right.
The object of intellectual property is the human mind, and the creations of human intelligence belong to "intellectual achievement rights." It refers to the spiritual wealth created by engaging in all intellectual activities in the fields of science, technology, culture, and art. rights under the law.
According to Article 2, paragraph 8, of the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization signed in Stockholm on July 14, 1967, intellectual property rights include the following rights: rights to literary, artistic and scientific works rights; rights to performances, sound recordings, video recordings and broadcasts; rights to inventions in all fields of human activity; rights to scientific discoveries; rights to industrial designs; rights to trademarks, service marks, trade names and marks; the right to suppress unfair competition; and the rights to the results created by all intellectual activities in the fields of industry, science, literature or art.
Traditional intellectual property rights are the sum of patent rights, trademark rights and copyrights. Due to the rapid development of contemporary science and technology, the continuous creation of high-tech intellectual achievements has brought a series of new protections to intellectual property rights. objects, so the content of traditional intellectual property rights is also constantly expanding.