Electronic games have become an essential aspect of the global entertainment industry. The recent Global Gaming Market Report reveals that the global gaming market was valued at around US$200 billion in 2023, and it is expected to reach between US$300 billion and US$500 billion in the years 2027 to 2030, depending on mobile gaming, cloud gaming and emerging markets. 

In this vast space, game mechanics have increasingly attracted consumer attention, and many disputes over gameplay plagiarism have emerged in recent years. It has become challenging for games companies and the legal community to effectively protect the IP rights of game mechanics, so it is therefore vital to shed light on the IP protection pathway in China. 

Overview of game mechanics

Game mechanics refer to a series of operations and interactive behaviours with which players engage during the game process, forming the game’s core experience and interactivity. Game mechanics not only include interactions between players and characters or environments, but also cover various aspects such as rules, mission design and level layout. Together, these elements make up the game’s unique charm, allowing players to obtain an immersive experience in the virtual world.

In this field, game mechanics are pivotal as they are a key factor in attracting players, but they are also vital to the product’s success. It is therefore crucial for game developers to protect these IP rights.

Game mechanics have the following significant characteristics.

Dynamism and interactivity – game mechanics change with continuous player operations and decisions. At the same time, they also show strong interactivity, as player choices and actions directly affect progress and outcomes.

Innovation and uniqueness – excellent game mechanics are often innovative and unique, providing players with novel and interesting gaming experiences. This is one of the goals that game developers pursue.

Complexity – game mechanics usually involve multiple aspects, such as rule design, mission setting and level layout. These elements are interrelated and interdependent, forming a complex system.

Applicability of China’s Copyright Law

China’s Copyright Law is primarily aimed at protecting creators’ exclusive rights over their literary, artistic and scientific works. However, plenty of disputes raise questions around the applicability of the legislation when it comes to protecting game mechanics. These are generally considered to be a form of creative expression, but whether they constitute a work in the sense of IP law is controversial. On one hand, game mechanics are innovative and unique and are the result of developers' intellectual labour; however, they often fail to meet the traditional copyright law requirements for originality and reproducibility.

Nevertheless, the Copyright Law still plays a role in protecting game mechanics. For example, in Taichi Panda v Hua Qian Gu, the court explicitly recognised that electronic game rules should be protected under the legislation. This indicates that, under certain circumstances, some parts of game mechanics could be considered works and thus obtain legal protection.

However, in specific judgments, simply having a unique set of game mechanics does not automatically entitle one to copyright protection. It requires further proof of originality and compliance with the work's constitutive requirements. In practice, this places a high demand on judges. For example, a judgment often spans hundreds of thousands of words, like in the controversial Rate the Land case. Judges must meticulously dissect the game mechanics and strip away, describe and define general gameplay or rules. Ultimately, through adjudication, the general game mechanics that come from ideas are placed in the public domain while protecting specific gameplay or rules, thereby stimulating gameplay innovation.

Applicability of the Patent Law 

China’s Patent Law is another important means of IP protection and mainly protects technical processes that are unique, creative and practical. 

From the patentability criteria, game mechanics could obtain patent protection if they meet the distinctive, creativity and practicality requirements. This implies that game mechanics must be a completely new concept or method, have significant creativity and be able to produce practical effects in actual application.

In practice, one can apply for patent protection for the technologically innovative parts of game mechanics (eg, specific physical collision or level-generation algorithms). When drafting claims, using technical language to describe multiple control steps involved in executing these  can effectively avoid questions about the protectable subject matter. Attempting to obtain Patent Law protection for various innovations in game mechanics provides new ideas for the protection of electronic games.

Supplementary protection through China’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law

Should the Copyright Law and Patent Law have limitations in protecting game mechanics, the Anti-unfair Competition Law can be an effective alternative. This legislation mainly focuses on unfair practices in market competition, aiming to maintain a fair competitive market order and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

For example, in The King of Fighters v Digital Adventure, the court held that Digital Adventure had obviously plagiarised in its game rule design, which would have reduced development costs. With similar game rules, the difference in user experience is also small, so users can adapt quickly to the play of both games, which weakens the attractiveness of The King of Fighters for players and  causes a loss of potential users. At the same time, this can easily cause adverse effects among players, which could lead to market damage for Yiqu, violate business ethics, and the principle of honesty and credit and constitute free-riding.

Further, in Douluo Continent: Martial Soul Awakening v Matchstick Man Awakening Mobile Game Software, the court pointed out that the specific structure, order and combination of the game belong to the category of game rules and are not subject to protection under the Copyright Law due to lack of originality. However, the rules of the accused game were highly similar to those of Douluo Continent: Martial Soul Awakening, and players would obtain a similar human-computer experience when playing both games. This substitution effect will inevitably reduce Douluo Continent: Martial Soul Awakening’s market share, thus damaging the plaintiff’s interests and competitive advantage.

Key takeaways

Protecting game mechanics is a complex issue that requires a combination of the Copyright Law, Patent Law and Anti-unfair Competition Law. Securing IP protection for game mechanics is a long-term and arduous task under the current process – but joint efforts and continuous exploration of the IP community can provide strong legal protection for the healthy development of this industry.