字體與字型著作權保護之重構

「電腦字型」在我國的著作權保護一直都是個重要卻常被忽略的議題。目前我國對於電腦字型係以美術著作下的「字型繪畫」及「電腦程式著作」保護之，惟這樣的區分方式並非毫無爭議。本文透過比較產業界用語以及外國立法例、實務見解，提出三個不同層次的問題，來重新建構對於電腦字型的著作權保護。首先，在保護客體的部分，「電腦字型」一詞實際上可分為兩個層面來討論，即注重藝術表現層面的「字體」與注重實用功能層面的「字型」。第二，於保護定義的部分，現行規範以「整組」、「包含常用字彙」作為保護單位，此使得能主張著作權保護的字體實際上非常限縮。最後，於保護範圍的部分，現行見解並不保護對於字體的「通常使用」，且保護不及於個別文字的輸出，這對於產業界來說並非最理想的保護範圍，恐怕最後只能透過私法契約進行救濟，無法建立全面而有效的救濟機制。是以，透過比較外國實務見解與立法例，本文認為我國對於電腦字型的著作權保護，應有重新檢討之必要。在用語上，現行的字型繪畫，應改為「字體繪畫」，而電腦字型軟體應改為「字型軟體」，使字體歸字體（字體設計的創作本身），字型歸字型（產生字體的方法）。且字型繪畫的保護定義，宜刪除「整組」、「常用」等不明確之文字，保護範圍不宜再限於「以重製為目的之非通常使用」，並且保護範圍亦應及於「個別文字」的使用。簡言之，著作權保護重構的步驟，應係確定保護之客體、修正保護之定義與放寬保護的範圍，沒有必要於前階段就先拒絕人民對於字體著作權於保護大門之外，而是宜待爭議發生後，再由後階段之司法機關審查即可。另外，隨著「手寫字」風格的崛起，近年來也有字型公司提供「客製化電腦字型」的服務，即由字型公司提供稿紙，讓服務使用者寫下一組具有個人風格的文字，字型公司再將該文字數位化，以創造一組專屬服務利用者個人的電腦字型以表現個人風格與獨特性。這也與早期消費者只能購買其他字型公司設計好的一整組電腦字型之利用模式大大不同。因此，字體與字型著作權的保護，不再只是對於專業設計師而言，對現今每一個「潛在」的設計師而言同等重要。

關鍵字

電腦字型；字體；字型；字形；字型繪畫；美術著作；著作權

並列摘要

The copyright protection of “typeface”and “font” is an important issue in Taiwan, which most of us are not aware of. Font is currently protected as “letter from drawing (typeface)” and ”computer program” respectively in the field of copyright. Compared to different legal systems, however, the protection in Taiwan is relatively obscure. In this thesis, by comparing the forgeign legal systems among other countries, we proposed a possible way to the reconstruction of copyright protection of the object, definition and range of typeface and font. To be more specific, firstly, we clarify that there are actually 2 different aspects of so-called “font”, the expressive one –“typeface” and the utilitarian one – “font”. Typeface refers to how the text is expressed, which is also described as “letter from drawing” by IPO. On the other hand, font is the medium of generating a typeface, which emphasizes the way to rendering a typeface. Secondly, only when the “letter from drawing (typeface)” shows in group and includes frequently-used characters can a typeface be protected in our current protection, which is not practical for our language system (Chinese chacacter), as it is hard to define which characters are frequently-used and how widely should a “group” possibly means. Finally, it would not be illegal if the user re-generate the typeface in the ordinary using process, which is also vague and should be omitted. Furthermore, the “hand-made” typeface design style is getting popular gradually in Taiwan. Consumers are allowed to make their own stylish typefaces into fonts by using the internet services. Thus, the copyright protection of font and typeface is equally important to the professional designers and amateur potential creators.