Great efforts were made to promote the third revis...
The promulgation and implementation of the Copyright Law are of great significance in regulating and encouraging the creation,dissemination,copyright protection and management of literary, artistic and scientific works, and promoting the development and prosperity of economic,social,cultural and scientific undertakings.At the same time, ever-changing scientific and technological progress and social development have brought about many new problems and challenges.Although the Copyright Law had been revised twice, many provisions are still relatively lagging behind.Therefore,since the completion of the second revision in 2010,the calls for revision have been constantly heard from all walks of life.
In July 2011,the former National Press and Publication Administration(National Copyright Administration, NCA)set up a leading group for the revision of the Copyright Law.The third revision of the Copyright Law was officially launched.The guiding principles of the third revision was to solve the outstanding problems of copyright creation, utilization,protection and management in China,properly handle the basic balance of the interest between creators,disseminators and the public by means of the balance of interest doctrine, properly handle the relationship between copyright protection and information dissemination, and make full use of the mature experience and practices of developed countries.
Entrusted by the NCA,the Intellectual Property Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Intellectual Property School of Renmin University of China,and Zhongnan University of Economics and Law drafted three expert proposals respectively.The NCA subsequently drafted the Amended Draft of the Copyright Law (including 88 articles),solicited opinions and suggestions from the public in March and July 2012, and interpreted the law extensively and solicited opinions and suggestions via a number of press conferences,seminars,and on-site interviews.In December 2012,the NCA submitted the Amended Draft of the Copyright Law(Draft for Review) (including 8 chapters with 90 articles)to the State Council.In June 2014,the former Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council published the Amended Draft of the Copyright Law (Draft for Review) for public comments.Later,the NCA and the former Legislative Affairs Of fice of the State Council revised the Amended Draft according to the solicited opinions and resubmitted it to the State Council.
From May to August 2017, the NPCSC conducted inspections on the enforcement of the Copyright Law.That was the first time that the NPCSC has carried out the specialized inspection on the enforcement of the Copyright Law since 1990 when the Copyright Law was promulgated.The inspection team was divided into 5 groups to conduct inspections in 5 places including Beijing and Shanghai,and meanwhile,the Standing Committees of the People's Congress of 10 provinces,autonomous regions and municipalities including Tianjin and Hebei were entrusted to inspect the enforcement of the copyright law in their respective administrative regions.In August 2017,the NPCSC deliberated the inspection report on the enforcement of the Copyright Law, which suggested strengthening law enforcement, providing stricter copyright protection and revising the Copyright Law promptly.(https://www.daowen.com)
During the “two sessions” (the NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference) in March 2018,government institutions had undergone great reforms, wherein the Legislative Af fairs Office of the State Council was merged into the Ministry of Justice,and the NPC was merged into the Central Propaganda Department, indicating that copyright administration in China has been unprecedentedly strengthened.
From December 2018 to January 2019, the Ministry of Justice sent the revised Draft for Review to relevant central departments, universities and research institutions, relevant people's organizations, collective copyright management organizations and relevant experts and scholars for comments.During that period,relevant departments had organized several seminars with respect to the revision of the Copyright Law.
In November 2019,the General Of fice of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council(collectively called the two general of fices) released the Opinions on Strengthening Intellectual Property Protection(hereinafter referred to as the Opinions),clearly requiring the comprehensive application of legal,administrative,economic,technical and social means to strengthen protection, promote the overall improvement of protection capabilities and levels,accelerate the amendment and perfection of the Copyright Law,expedite the incorporation of the punitive damage system for infringement in such fields as copyright； greatly enhance the upper limit of statutory infringement damages,and increase damage compensation；and strengthen civil judicial protection and effectively implement the punitive damages system, and increase the intensity of administrative penalties and criminal crackdown.
After the issuance of the Opinions by the “two general offices”,the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee(ESCPHC)of the NPC took the lead in inviting five collective copyright management organizations including China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS), and relevant people's organizations and experts to convene Copyright Law revision seminars on a small scale, focusing on how to implement the spirit of the documents issued by the two general offices during the revision of the copyright law.The vast majority of representatives actively supported the incorporation of the doctrine of punitive damages,the increase of the upper limit of the statutory damages amount to RMB 5 million, as well as the strengthened administrative enforcement of the Copyright Law.Ever since then, the third revision of the Copyright Law has been accelerating.