The Internet intellectual property rights have to be protected in compliance with the related laws and regulations, so as to provide a fair environment for the transmit of articles on the Internet, said a Supreme People's Court presiding judge on Sunday.

Among anywhere from 5,000 to 6,000 cases relating to the intellectual property rights violations lawsuits that had gone to courts across China every year, said Jiang Zhipei, president of the Third Court of Civil Affairs, several hundred concern disputes on Internet copyrights.

Attending a "Xinhuanet Development Forum" at the sponsorship of Xinhuanet, Jiang acknowledged that the Internet had scored rapid progress in China over nearly a decade ever since the mid 1990s. The enacting of the relevant laws and regulations, nevertheless, had been lagging behind in the country. The rights of quite a few writers in this regard have been infringed upon as their works on the Internet were sometimes used by others at will without any pay to them.

According to legal explanations given by the Supreme People's Court judge, the original authors should be paid if their articles on the Internet are used by others and, under no circumstances, should their articles be copied or reprinted provided they do not permit their fellow netizens to do so, said Jiang.

Moreover, he said, the State Intellectual Property Rights Office is working out payment standards for the use of articles on the Internet.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2003)