The National Copyright Administration (NCA) and the Ministry of
Information Industry (MII) announced the May 30 implementation of
"Administrative Measures on Internet Copyright Protection", the
first of its kind in the country.
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"China's present copyright laws do not define responsibilities
relating to copyright protection clearly to Internet Service
Providers (ISPs). That's why we have introduced the new
regulations," said Li Guobin, an official with the MII, on
Sunday.
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The regulations were published on April 30.
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The short of it is, anyone who finds their copyrights infringed
upon should inform the relevant ISP in writing with evidence of the
alleged infringement. The ISP is obliged then to verify the
allegation and report the matter immediately if there has been an
infringement.
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The State Council has already launched the draft of "Policies of
Protecting Internet Information Spreading Rights," which has a
stronger legal effect, Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of NCA
said.
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Statistics from MII show that by the end of 2004, China had more
than 600,000 websites. Of these, only 8,000 were registered
sites.
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"If the government doesn't take measures to deal with Internet
piracy, its efforts to fight piracy in tangible markets will fail.
More dealers of pirated goods will switch to the Internet because
of the lax controls," said Zheng Chengsi, director of the IPR
Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.?
(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2005)