The Dilemma of Determining Copyright Infringement in “Murder Mystery Game”: Practical Reflection and Theoretical Construction

剧本杀是包含文字、绘画等多种要素的“融合作品”，剧本杀经营者向玩家提供盗版剧本临时使用的行为，损害了剧本杀行业版权保护生态，但由于我国著作权法规定的出租权权利范围过窄，司法实践正面临无法根据法定权利对该行为进行规制的困境。通过梳理学界对于提供盗版剧本临时使用行为如何定性的分歧，应考虑扩大出租权客体范围以破除该行为的规制之难。基于利益平衡的视角考量著作权不断扩张的历史发展，借鉴出租权制度的域外发展经验，回应著作权体系的整体协调要求，建立与国际保护水平相适应的出租权制度。A murder mystery game is a “fusion work” comprising various elements such as words and drawings. The act of providing players with pirated scripts for temporary use by operators of murder mystery games has damaged the copyright protection ecosystem of the murder mystery game industry. However, the narrow scope of the rental right provided in China’s copyright law has resulted in a dilemma for judicial practice, which is unable to regulate this act under legal rights. Beyond sorting out the differences between the scholars on how to qualify the temporary use of pirated scripts, it is imperative to consider an expansion of the scope of the object of the rental right. This would effectively eliminate the current challenge of regulating this act. In light of balancing interests, it is essential to consider the history and the evolution of the copyright ecosystem and draw upon the experience of the extraterritorial development of the rental rights system. This would also try to respond to the need for the overall coordination of the copyright system and to establish a rental rights system that is in line with the international level of protection.