Unauthorized Adaptation of Novels into Online Games Constitutes Copyright Infringement and Unfair Competition

WISECODE Take

In the (2025) Min Min Zhong No. 126 judgment, the Fujian High People's Court ruled that the online game "Gai Shi Hao Xia" infringed copyright by unauthorized adaptation of Gu Long's novel elements. Many operators mistakenly believe that merely borrowing character names and martial arts without copying the plot does not constitute infringement. The second-instance judgment upheld the original ruling, ordering the defendants to pay 2.318 million RMB in damages. This establishes that systematically extracting and recombining scattered cultural elements in a game still constitutes copyright infringement. This significantly lowers the threshold for Taiwanese right holders to enforce rights across the strait. If your business is not involved in literary adaptation or game development, you are unaffected; if you plan cross-border licensing, Zhidian's "Patent Portfolio Health Check" service can help clarify boundaries. We suggest two actions. First, creative developers must conduct clearance searches to avoid directly copying original character relationships when using literary elements. Second, licensing contracts should include title warranty clauses to ensure clear recourse if products are taken down due to infringement. IP licensing compliance directly determines whether digital products can be successfully launched and survive.