The National Copyright Administration (NCA) will soon implement
a regulation on administrative protection of materials appearing on
the Internet to help prevent piracy.
The regulation, drafted by the NCA and the Ministry of
Information Industry (MII), is intended to bring China's copyright
protection in line with international standards, said NCA spokesman
Wang Ziqiang at a Thursday meeting.
China amended its Copyright Law in 2001 to add provisions that
gave dissemination rights of materials on Internet-based networks
to authors, performers and audio and video producers. The law
indicates that the State Council will provide more specific
information on these rights and their protection. The Legislative
Affairs Office under the State Council has this item listed on its
legislative plan for next year, according to Wang.
"This draft regulation will go into effect before the end of
this year to help prevent piracy before the State Council's
legislation is completed," said Wang.
The regulation provides administrative protection of
dissemination rights to materials on the Internet, including
functions such as loading, saving, transmitting, linking and
searching.
In 1996, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
promulgated two conventions based on new technology development:
the WIPO Copyright Treaty and WIPO Performances and Phonograms
Treaty. These treaties address copyrights held by authors,
performers and audio and video producers on Internet-based
materials.
The regulation recently drafted is based on the two WIPO
treaties and similar laws in a number of developed countries.
Yesterday's meeting attracted dozens of representatives from
government and private industry, as well as several website
operators. They offered their opinions and suggestions for
implementing the regulation.
Kuang Ning, of the Shanghai Securities Exchange, said the
regulation should also include protection of Internet-based
securities information, as the dissemination of false information
has damaged good order in securities exchange in recent years.
(China Daily November 5, 2004)