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Dissertation
Immaterialgüter- und Wettbewerbsrecht

EU Legal Protection of Computer Programs from Chinese Perspective

This research project studies the legal protection of computer programs under EU law, critically examining whether such protection is positive for the technological progress of EU member states. Meanwhile, it further discusses whether the EU level of protection is applicable in China, for the boost of the Chinese relevant industry.

Letzte Änderung: 01.08.13

The purpose of the research is to study the legal protection of computer programs under EU law, examining whether such protection is positive for technological progress within EU. Meanwhile, it further discusses whether the EU level of protection is applicable in China, so that the Chinese software industry may benefit from the IP system.

First of all, Computer Programs Directive will be deeply reviewed to fulfil the research purpose. Based on the review, the concrete measures of protection are further discussed. Besides, the research also covers the review of representative cases in EU. Such research will be made in a critical manner, regarding to the effect of IP protection to the progress of EU member states.

In particular, the following two key issues are emphasized. The first issue is the temporary copying of the computer programs. According to Computer Programs Directive, temporary reproduction is within the scope of copyright in EU. By contrast, according to Chinese law, such temporary reproduction is not within the scope of copyright. Due to the importance of the inevitable temporary reproduction during the use of software, the reason that the reproduction of programs in computers’ RAM is covered by copyright in EU, and how the relevant provision was legislated during the legislative procedure will be deeply analysed. In particular, the contemporary issue of temporary reproduction of SAAS software on the internet will be discussed.

The second issue is the decompilation of computer programs. Under EU law, the rule of decompilation is clear that software may be decompiled if this is necessary to ensure it operates with another program or device, but the results of the decompilation may not be used for any other purpose without infringing the copyright. By contrast, there is no rule of decompilation in China, resulting in numerous copyright disputes concerning reverse-engineering. To eliminate such ambiguity in China, how the rule of decompilation works in EU will be deeply analysed.

Secondly, based on the above research, the transmission of EU IP experience to China will be an essential part of this project. A critical research of the adaptation needs to be done, so that China may get more practical benefit from the research. In order to transmit the EU copyright experience to China, a comparison between Software Regulation 2002 of China and Computer Programs Directive will be made for seeking the internal logical relationship between the provisions.

Personen

Doktorand/in

Jiong He

Betreuung

Dr. Kaya Köklü

Doktorvater/-mutter

Dr. Catherine Ng

Forschungsschwerpunkte

Unionsrechte und Unionsschutzsysteme