Font Copyright Infringement in China: Three Cases and What Businesses Should Know
字体侵权：三个案例与企业用字注意事项
A typeface is protected in China as a work of fine art under copyright law. Using a commercial font on product packaging, a book cover or an online store page without the rightsholder's permission may infringe the rights of reproduction and distribution. The three cases below come from food packaging, book publishing and online retail.
Case 1 — Food packaging: Founder Electronics v. YueZhe Foods and Beiguo Mall
Parties and industry: Beijing Founder Electronics Co., Ltd. v. Shanghai YueZhe Foods Co., Ltd. and Beiguo Mall Co., Ltd. — food and fast-moving consumer goods.
Facts: eight Chinese characters on the food packaging — 木, 糖, 醇, 粗, 粮, 沙, 琪, 玛 — were identical to the corresponding characters in the plaintiff's fine-art work, the typeface Founder HanZhen GuangBiao.
Held: (1) stop using the infringing font; (2) stop selling goods bearing the infringing font; (3) pay damages and reasonable expenses of RMB 50,000 in total; (4) make an apology.
Case 2 — Book cover: Founder Electronics v. China Traditional Chinese Medicine Press and Jiahui Hantang Books
Parties and industry: Beijing Founder Electronics Co., Ltd. v. China Traditional Chinese Medicine Press and Shaanxi Jiahui Hantang Books Distribution Co., Ltd. — publishing.
Facts: the characters 经 and 方 on the cover of the book 《经方温化发微》 were an imitation and reproduction of the corresponding characters in the plaintiff's typeface work (Founder Ziji — Lü's Regular Script), infringing the plaintiff's right of reproduction.
Legal point: under Article 20(3) of the Supreme People's Court's Interpretation on copyright civil disputes, the publisher bears the burden of proving the reasonable care it exercised. As publisher, China Traditional Chinese Medicine Press could not reasonably explain its use, on the cover, of a fine-art work in which the plaintiff held copyright, and was therefore liable. Jiahui Hantang, which bought the books from the Press and distributed them for sale, acted as a distributor within the meaning of the Copyright Law and likewise infringed.
Held: (1) the Press immediately stops the infringing reproduction and distribution; (2) Jiahui Hantang immediately stops the infringing distribution; (3) the Press pays damages and reasonable expenses for stopping the infringement of RMB 15,000 in total.
Case 3 — Online store packaging: Zixin Fang v. Baiyixing Foods, Jiudao Marketing, a local store and Taobao
Parties and industry: Yantai Zixin Fang Creative Design Co., Ltd. v. Hangzhou Baiyixing Foods Co., Ltd., Shanghai Jiudao Marketing Planning Co., Ltd., the Zhao Zhengquan General Store in Pingming Town, Donghai County, and Zhejiang Taobao Network Co., Ltd. — food sold through online stores.
Facts: the front of the product packaging prominently displayed the words “逸生昌小麻花”, identical in glyph form and artistic effect to the fine-art work registered by the plaintiff. During the proceedings, Taobao had already disconnected the links to the products in question, and the plaintiff withdrew its claim against Taobao. The plaintiff's expenses for the case totalled RMB 6,481.7.
Legal point: under the Copyright Law, the right of reproduction is the right to make one or more copies of a work by printing, photocopying, rubbing, audio or video recording, re-recording, re-photographing, digitisation and similar means; the right of distribution is the right to provide the original or copies of a work to the public by sale or gift.
Held: (1) Baiyixing immediately stops infringing the reproduction and distribution rights in the plaintiff's fine-art work; (2) Jiudao Marketing immediately stops infringing the distribution right; (3) Baiyixing and Jiudao Marketing are jointly liable for damages and reasonable expenses of RMB 15,000 in total; (4) the general store is jointly liable for up to RMB 3,000 of that amount.
What makes font use infringing
Three elements: (1) the font in question is a fine-art work in which the plaintiff holds copyright; (2) the defendant, without permission, reproduced, published or distributed the font; (3) the infringing act harmed the plaintiff's lawful rights and interests. In the cases above, the defendants used fonts identical or similar to the plaintiffs' registered fine-art works — on food packaging, book covers and online product packaging respectively — without permission, and each use amounted to copyright infringement.
The liabilities: stop, apologise, pay — sometimes jointly
The main consequences of font infringement are cessation of the infringing act, an apology, and compensation for losses; joint and several liability may also apply. In Case 1, YueZhe Foods and Beiguo Mall had to stop using the font, pay RMB 50,000 and apologise. In Case 2, the Press was liable because it could not prove it had exercised reasonable care, and the distributor was liable for distributing the infringing books. In Case 3, the food company and the marketing company were liable for using the font on packaging and in online promotion, and the small retailer bore partial joint liability.
One point in Case 3 deserves attention: Taobao, although named as a defendant because the infringing font was disseminated through its platform, had disconnected the product links in time — and ultimately bore no liability.
Practical precautions for businesses
1. Obtain font software licences through lawful channels, and avoid using, publishing or distributing works involving copyrighted fonts without permission.
2. If the business buys books, products or other items containing others' fine-art works for resale or distribution, exercise a reasonable duty of checking, so as not to take on unnecessary burdens of proof and joint liability.
3. If suspected of infringing a font copyright, act as soon as a notice or lawsuit is received: stop the infringing use immediately and engage with the rightsholder to negotiate a solution.
Taken together, these measures allow a business to effectively avoid the legal risks and losses that font infringement can cause.
Fonts are easy to overlook and expensive to litigate. Before a design goes to print or online, confirm that every font in it is properly licensed for the intended use — and keep the licence paperwork on file.
Facing a copycat product, packaging or intellectual property dispute in China? An early check of your licences, registrations and evidence can decide how strong your position is.
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字体是受著作权法保护的美术作品。企业在产品包装、书籍封面、网店页面中使用字体，未经权利人许可，可能构成对复制权、发行权的侵犯。以下三个案例，分别发生在食品包装、图书出版和网店销售领域。
案例一：食品包装用字侵权（北大方正诉上海越哲食品、北国商城）
被告行业：食品快消品。事实：食品包装上的“木”、“糖”、“醇”、“粗”、“粮”、“沙”、“琪”、“玛”八个字的字体，均与原告北大方正公司的美术作品《方正汉真广标体》中的该八个汉字单字的字体完全相同。
判决：1、停止使用侵权字体；2、停止销售印有侵权字体的商品；3、赔偿经济损失及合理开支共计人民币5万元；4、赔礼道歉。
案例二：书籍封面用字侵权（北大方正诉中国中医药出版社、陕西嘉汇汉唐）
被告行业：出版。事实：《经方温化发微》封面“经”、“方”二字是对《方正字迹——吕某某行楷字体》中“经”、“方”的模仿复制，构成对原告作品复制权的侵犯。
法律适用：《最高人民法院关于审理著作权民事纠纷案件适用法律若干问题的解释》第二十条第三款规定，出版者所尽合理注意义务情况，由出版者承担举证责任。被告中医药出版社作为出版者，无法对其出版物《经方温化发微》在封面右上角擅自使用原告享有著作权的美术作品的行为做出合理解释，构成对原告著作权的侵害，应当承担相应的民事责任。另外，被告嘉汇汉唐公司通过从中医药出版社处购入书籍并分发销售的行为，构成《著作权法》意义上的发行行为，亦侵犯了原告的著作权。
判决：1、中国中医药出版社立即停止侵权复制和发行行为；2、陕西嘉汇汉唐图书发行有限责任公司立即停止侵权发行行为；3、中国中医药出版社赔偿经济损失及制止侵权支出的合理费用共计15000元。
案例三：网店商品外包装用字侵权（烟台字心坊诉杭州佰诒行等）
被告行业：食品网店。事实：商品外包装的正面均突出标识“逸生昌小麻花”字样，在字形、艺术效果等方面与原告登记的美术作品相同。在案件审理期间，原告字心坊公司确认，淘宝公司已将涉案商品链接断开，原告撤回了对淘宝公司的起诉。原告为本案花费共计6481.7元。
法律适用：《中华人民共和国著作权法》规定，复制权是以印刷、复印、拓印、录音、录像、翻录、翻拍、数字化等方式将作品制作一份或者多份的权利；发行权是以出售或者赠与方式向公众提供作品的原件或者复制件的权利。
判决：1、杭州佰诒行食品有限公司立即停止侵犯原告美术作品复制权和发行权的行为；2、上海氿道营销策划有限公司立即停止侵犯原告美术作品发行权的行为；3、杭州佰诒行食品有限公司、上海氿道营销策划有限公司连带赔偿原告经济损失及为制止侵权行为所支付的合理开支共计人民币15000元；4、东海县平明镇赵正全百货商店对上述赔偿金额在人民币3000元范围内承担连带责任。
字体侵权的构成条件
1、涉案字体为原告享有著作权的美术作品；2、被告未经许可擅自复制、发表或者发行涉案字体；3、侵权行为造成原告合法权益受损。在上述案例中，被告在食品包装、书籍封面以及网店商品外包装等不同领域中，均未经许可使用了与原告登记美术作品相同或相似的字体，从而构成对原告著作权的侵犯。
字体侵权的主要责任
字体侵权的主要责任为：停止侵权行为、赔礼道歉、赔偿损失，并且可以承担连带赔偿责任。
案例1中，上海越哲食品有限公司和北国商城股份有限公司因在商品包装上使用侵权字体而侵权，最终需停止使用侵权字体、赔偿5万元，并赔礼道歉。
案例2中，中国中医药出版社因在出版物封面使用了疑似侵权字体，且无法向法院证明尽了合理注意义务而需要承担侵权责任；同时，陕西嘉汇汉唐图书发行有限责任公司因发行侵权书籍需要承担责任。
案例3中，杭州佰诒行食品有限公司、上海氿道营销策划有限公司因在商品包装及网售宣传中使用了侵权字体而承担了侵权责任；此外，东海县平明镇赵正全百货商店承担部分连带责任。需要注意的是，在案例三中，虽然淘宝平台因在信息网络中传播侵权字体信息也被列为被告，但其及时断开涉案商品链接，最终并未承担责任。
字体使用的注意事项
1、企业应通过合法途径获取字体软件的授权使用，避免未经许可使用、发布或发行涉及著作权字体的作品；
2、若企业需要购买书籍、产品等包含他人美术作品的物品进行销售或分发，应尽到合理核查义务，以免承担不必要的举证责任和连带赔偿责任；
3、在涉嫌侵犯他人字体著作权时，一旦收到相应通知或诉讼，应立即采取措施制止侵权行为，并积极与原告沟通协商。
通过上述措施，企业能有效规避因字体侵权产生的法律风险和损失。
字体虽小，风险不小。设计定稿、付印、上线之前，确认所用字体已获合法授权，并留存授权凭证，是成本最低的风险防范。