On the protection of intellectual property rights in variety show templates

Abstract

China's variety show industry is growing rapidly, but there have been repeated plagiarism controversies. The protection of variety show templates under both the current copyright law and the anti-unfair competition law has some shortcomings. This article suggests that variety show templates should be included in the scope of intellectual property protection by analyzing the criteria of "works" under copyright law and some inspiring cases at home and abroad. In addition, by analyzing the characteristics of variety show templates, it is suggested that the principle of overall protection of intellectual property rights for variety show templates should be adopted, and that the general audience test should be used to determine whether the works in question are substantially similar to each other, with the aim of better protecting variety show templates as a whole.