An online video featuring two Chinese migrant workers performing the pop song "In Spring" became an Internet sensation due to the duo's simplicity and plainness. The video became so popular that the amateur duo was invited to perform at the Spring Festival TV gala aired on China Central Television last month.

However, the duo, called Xuri-Yanggang, or the Rising Sun and Masculinity, were later prohibited from performing this act by the song's composer and original singer, Wang Feng. The Chinese rock star said his warning was meant to stir up public awareness of protecting intellectual property rights in a digital age.

Many people supported Wang's move. Microbloggers expressed understanding and called on Internet users to compose a song for the duo, so that the grassroots singers would have their own song to perform.

"The public response would have been unimaginable 30 years ago, but copyright protection has increasingly gained a foothold in China," Liu Chuntian, director of the Intellectual Property Institute of the Renmin University of China, told a forum Tuesday.

With the rising popularity of the Internet and digital entertainment among China's 420 million netizens, experts are seeking ways to protect copyrights of books, films and songs, among other popular cultural products. The government also launched massive attacks on pirated DVDs and books.

Prof. Wang Qian at the Shanghai-based East China University of Political Science and Law, said cultural development would cease unless copyrights were properly protected. Wang took it as an example that the Word Processing System (WPS), original Chinese software, was gradually replaced by Microsoft Word in the country's software market after rampant piracy of the U.S. software in China years ago.

"A complete legal environment was key to copyright protection and the cultivation of public awareness," he said.

However, Liu Yicheng, vice secretary-general of the Copyright Society of China, said the Internet brought great challenges to the publishing sector, with serious copyright infringements occurring worldwide.

Last week, more than 40 famous Chinese writers said in an open letter that Baidu, China's search engine giant, stole their work and infringed on their copyrights by allowing free online excerpts of unauthorized stories and books. China Written Works Copyright Society also issued a statement on its website, urging all publishing companies and writers to jointly sue Baidu.

This was not the first time that Baidu has been criticized for violating copyright laws. Lawyers declined to comment on the case.

Meanwhile, experts suggest exploring new commercial forms of offering cultural products online. Wang cited ku6.com, a popular video-sharing website, as an example. The site restricts the length of uploaded video footage to ten minutes, which "effectively bars films and TV operas from entering the site, thus reducing infringement risks," he said.

Others suggest using encryption codes and digital watermarks online, among other methods to protect content entitled to intellectual property rights.