A senior Chinese expert on intellectual property rights (IPR) yesterday reaffirmed the country's firm stance on protection of copyrights in everything from books to music to content published on the Internet.
In his speech at the opening ceremony of an international IPR seminar in Guangzhou, Shi Zongyuan, director of the National Copyright Administration (NCAC), said China hopes to soon develop an advanced and comprehensive copyright protection system.
To this end, the State Council officially reviewed and passed a draft version of the Amendment on Copyrights of the Works of the People's Republic of China last November.
The draft has been submitted to the National People's Congress for deliberation and is expected to be made a part of China's copyright law in the near future.
According to Shi, most of the provisions contained within the draft deal with rapidly developing digital technology.
The NCAC director said the country is seeking help from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and experts from other countries and regions in developing its copyright protection apparatus.
The Chinese Government has been paying special attention to the guarding of IPR in recent years, Shi explained.
Since 1991, people's courts at all levels throughout the country have established special intellectual property right tribunals to handle cases involving copyright infringements.
Meanwhile, the State Council and provincial and municipal governments have also established copyright departments to increase the quality of IPR management.
Jointly organized by the NCAC and WIPO, the seminar looks to discuss the impacts on copyright protection of the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty and the World Intellectual Property Organization Performance and Phonogram Treaty. It opened yesterday and will last until tomorrow.
More than 50 foreign intellectual property officials and experts from WIPO and more than 20 nations and regions are expected to attend the event over the three days to exchange views with their Chinese counterparts on the protection of intellectual property rights.
Senior officials, experts and lawyers from the European Union, the United States, Japan, Malaysia and the China will give keynote speeches during the conference.
Cracking down on Internet-based copyright infringement has been listed as the main topic for discussion at the seminar.
(China Daily 03/28/2001)
