Fischertechnik Prevails In Copyright Case Though Established Models Fail Work Test

Shanghai IP Court recently made a final ruling on a copyright infringement and unfair competition case between the Germany- based Fischertechnik GmbH Company and Shanghai Dongfang Training Aid Company/Shanghai Yaxun Intelligent Robot Company, ordering the two defendants to cease infringing copyright of Fischertechnik's figure works and 30 model works. In parallel, the Court also awarded 500,000 yuan in damages, the maximum amount of statutory damages under the Chinese Copyright Law.

The Fischertechnik Model which contains various kinds of components was launched to the market in January 2004 by Fischertechnik GmbH, one of the members of Fischer Group. Fischertechnik GmbH held that the established 30 drawings of static models and 102 components and assemble steps in installation manual can be deemed as sketches protected by the Chinese Copyright Law, while the established 30 static models can be deemed as three-dimensional works.