Copyright Infringement Issues Concerning Adaptations Of Computer Software

According to Article 3, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 11 of the Copyright Act, an "adaptation" refers to the creation of another work based on a pre-existing work by translation, musical arrangement, revision, filming, or other means. According to the Intellectual Property Court, derivative works resulting from an adaptation should still contain elements of the original work; if a different work has been created through the use of the original work, the work is not considered a derivative work according to the Copyright Act, but it is instead deemed a completely new work. Naturally, such work does not involve the issue of infringing the original author's adaptation rights.

According to judgment 103-Min-Zhu-Shang-Zi No. 12 issued by the Intellectual Property Court on December 3, 2015 concerning whether copyrights have been infringed due to adaptations of computer programs, the Court determined that even where software code was modified based on the work of others, if the