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The National Copyright Administration selects top 10 copyright events in China in 2020
Time:2021-07-14

The National Copyright Administration selects top 10 copyright events in China in 2020 

 

Among them, in addition to major industry regulations such as the further improvement of the copyright legal system and the entry into force of the “Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances”nearly 300 film and television practitioners and network writers jointly resisted copy and plagiarism, which also is on the list. This incident reflects the demands of the industry and the public to purify the copyright environment, triggers extensive discussions on respecting copyright and resisting plagiarism, and promotes the awareness of the whole society to respect copyright and creation.

 

Top 10 copyright events in China in 2020 selected by the National Copyright Administration are as follows.

 

1. Further improvement of copyright legal system

 

The year 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the promulgation of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, many laws have been promulgated and amended to further improve the legal system of copyright. On May 28, 2020, the Third Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress voted and passed the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, which provides an important system for strengthening intellectual property work. On November 11, 2020, the 23rd session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress voted and passed the decision on amending the Copyright law of the People's Republic of China, which improved the relevant concepts and systems of works and rights, cranked up the punishment of infringement, and strengthened the law enforcement means of the copyright authorities. On December 26, 2020, the 24th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress voted and passed the Amendment to the Criminal Law (11), which increased the legal term of imprisonment for the crimes of copyright infringement and intensified the crackdown on copyright infringement.

 

2. The entry into force of the “Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances”

 

On April 28, 2020, the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances of the World Intellectual Property Organization came into force. The Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances was concluded in Beijing on June 26, 2012, which is the first international intellectual property treaty to be concluded in China and named by Chinese cities since the founding of new China. The treaty aims to comprehensively protect the spiritual and economic rights of performers for their performances. Its conclusion and entry into force comprehensively enhance the level of international protection for performers' rights, and will effectively promote the development of audio-visual performance industry. At the 61st series of sessions of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Member States Conference, Yan Xiaohong, chairman of the China Copyright Association, was elected as the president of the first conference of the parties to the Beijing Treaty on the Audiovisual Performances. This is the first time that a Chinese representative has served as the president of the conference of the parties to the treaty in the field of copyright in the world intellectual property organization.

 

3. The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate have issued a series of judicial interpretations and documents related to copyright

 

In 2020, the Supreme People's court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Copyright and Rights Related to Copyright, the Opinions on Comprehensively Strengthening Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, the Opinions on Strengthening Punishment of IPR Infringements in accordance with Law, the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of the Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Intellectual Property Infringement (III), the Guiding Opinions on Hearing Civil Cases Involving Intellectual Property Rights of E-commerce Platforms, and the Provisions on Evidence in Intellectual Property Rights Civil Action and a series of documents, etc. These judicial interpretations and documents of intellectual property have strengthened the judicial protection of intellectual property and fully reflected the firm attitude of the Supreme People's court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate in strengthening the protection of intellectual property. In particular, the Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Copyright and Rights Related to Copyright has made clear provisions on strengthening the protection of the rights and interests of creators in accordance with the law and vigorously improving the quality and efficiency of case trial.

 

4. National Copyright Administration strengthens the supervision of copyright administrative law enforcement

 

In 2020, the National Copyright Administration paid attention to the construction of copyright system, enlarged the administrative law enforcement and supervision of copyright, and strengthened the protection of copyright. In May 2020, the National Copyright Administration issued Notice on Regulating Copyright Order of Photographic Works to strengthen the rectification of copyright in the field of pictures, standardize the copyright order of photographic works, and promote the construction of a long-term mechanism for copyright protection of photographic works. In November 2020, the National Copyright Administration issued Notice on Further Doing a Good Job in Examining and Identifying Evidence of Copyright Administrative Law Enforcement to reduce the burden of rights protection of obligee, improve the working mechanism of copyright administrative law enforcement, and enhance the efficiency of copyright administrative law enforcement.

 

5. Judgment of Jiangsu Yangzhou “Ghost Machine” stealing cinematic movie case

 

The National Copyright Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Cyberspace Administration of China jointly launched the "Jianwang 2020" special action, focusing on the problems of Internet infringement and piracy, which are strongly reflected by the masses and concerned by public opinion, and the key areas where infringement and piracy occur frequently to carry out centralized rectification, deleting 3.2394 million infringing and pirating links, close 2884 infringing and pirating websites (APPs), and investigate and handle 724 cases of Internet infringement and piracy. The special action has promoted the progress of investigating and handling major cases of Internet infringement and piracy. The first trial of the case of "ghost machine" illegally recording and disseminating cinema films in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province was decided during the special action. The principal offender Ma was sentenced to six years' imprisonment and fined 5.5 million yuan. Another 27 defendants were criminally punished, effectively punished the illegal act of "ghost machine" in stealing and transmitting cinema films.

 

6. Results of the 2020 China Copyright Gold Award were announced

 

On December 2, 2020, the National Copyright Administration announced the results of the 2020 China Copyright Gold Award. Six works such as the Three-Body Problem won the "Work Award", five units such as the "learning power" learning platform won the "Promotion and Application Award", five units such as the fifth collegial panel of the third civil trial of the Supreme People's court won the "Protection Award", and 4 units such as the Copyright Administration Office of Beijing Copyright Bureau won the "Management Award". The China Copyright Gold Award is the highest award in China's copyright industry. It was jointly established by the National Copyright Administration of China and the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2008. It aims to commend and encourage units or individuals that have made outstanding contributions to the creation, protection, application and management of copyright in China, and promote the progress of China's copyright industry and the development of copyright industry.

 

7. The Beijing High People's Court retrial and amend the case of sports program copyright

 

In September 2020, the Beijing High People's court made a retrial judgment on the case of copyright infringement and unfair competition among SINA Corporation, Tianying Kyushu Company and LETV company, identified that the Chinese super league tournament program involved in the case constituted a kind of electronic works, revoked the second trial judgment and maintained the first trial judgment. The copyright of sports events is closely related to the development of sports industry, and there are different views in the industry for many years. Since the case was brought to the court in 2015, both the first and second instance have aroused widespread concern. The retrial decision of this case is settled, which reflects the people's court's attitude towards the copyright issue of sports events, which will have a profound impact on the booming sports industry.

 

8. Rapid development of China's copyright industry

 

On December 30, 2020, the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication released the research results of the economic contribution of China's copyright industry in 2019: the added value of China's copyright industry in 2019 is RMB 7.32 trillion, accounting for 7.39% of GDP. Among them, the added value of the core copyright industry reached RMB 4.59 trillion yuan, accounting for 63% of the total copyright industry. The proportion of copyright industry in the national economy has steadily increased, and it’s overall scale has further expanded. On September 16, 2020, the Report on the development of China's Internet copyright industry in 2019 issued by the Research Base of Network Copyright Industry of National Copyright Administration shows that the market scale of China's Internet copyright industry in 2019 had reached RMB 958.42 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 29.1%. The network copyright industry continues to maintain stable growth, the quality of content continues to improve, and the industrial structure is more reasonable.

 

9. Nearly 300 film and television practitioners and network writers jointly resisted copy and plagiarism

 

In December 2020, nearly 300 well-known film and television practitioners and network writers issued a joint open letter or proposal, calling on the media platform to resist plagiarism, causing widespread concern in the community. At the end of December 2020, Guo Jingming and Yu Zheng made a public apology to Zhuang Yu and Qiongyao respectively for their previous plagiarism. Zhuang Yu and Qiongyao respectively accepted the apology and put forward relevant initiatives. This incident reflected the appeal of the industry and the public to purify the copyright environment, triggered extensive discussions on respecting copyright and resisting plagiarism, and raised the awareness of the whole society to respect copyright and creation.

 

10. Further regulations of copyright order in the karaoke field

 

In recent years, the National Copyright Administration, has united with relevant departments to continue to strengthen the supervision of the collective management of copyright, constantly standardize the copyright order in the field of karaoke, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the right holders and users. In January 2020, the China Audio-Video Copyright Association and other units jointly issued the Implementation Plan of Copyright Licensing Business for Song and Dance Entertainment Industry to improve the copyright licensing and fee allocation mechanism in karaoke field, and insist on solving the copyright problem of karaoke field in collective management of copyright. In response to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak, the relevant association issued the Implementation Plan of Copyright Licensing Royalty in Karaoke Field in 2020, which reduced royalty for copyright license of Karaoke site, helped the related enterprises to resume operation smoothly, and consolidated the copyright market order in Karaoke field.