软件转换性使用规则的美国实践与中国应对

The Practice of Software Transformative Use Rules in America and Chinese Solutions

截至2021年12月31日,美国司法审判中有关软件转换性使用的案例共计16件,通过归纳分析可知,当软件开发者以开发不同功能的新软件为目的、主张对原软件合理使用时,美国法院有可能认定其行为属于转换性使用,从而打破了合理使用“四要素”的判断方法。我国软件企业进入美国市场时,应当关注诉讼成本、版权注册、软件类型、地方保护等因素。考虑到我国的软件行业发展现状和法律体系与美国的差异,我国现阶段不宜引入软件转换性使用规则。

This paper collected 16 cases of software transformative use cases in the U.S.judicial trials.The conclusion is that when software developers advocate the fair use of the original software in order to develop new software with different functions,the United States court may find that its behavior is transformative in use.In American judicial practice,the rules of transformative use have broken the doctrine of the four-factor test for fair use.Chinese software companies should learn and adapt to transformative use rules in the US market.Based on the judicial practice experience in the United States and the development status of Chinses software industry,China’s fair use system should not introduce software transformative use rules at this stage.