New opportunities for collective copyright managem...
The collective copyright management system is an important criterion indicating a nation's copyright protection level. At present, there are five collective copyright management organizations in China playing an important role in fulfilling their statutory functions of collecting and transferring“statutory license”royalties granted under the law,promoting legal and orderly use and dissemination of members'works,facilitating industrial development,safeguarding social fairness and justice,and boosting overall rule of law and social governance.However,in terms of internal establishment,as well as the capabilities in serving country,society,public and members, collective copyright management organizations cannot completely meet the actual needs of the country and society,and are lagging behind developed countries.The public has new expectations on collective copyright management organizations.
Article 8 of the newly revised Copyright Law clarifies that a collective copyright management organization is a non-profit legal person, endows the collective copyright management organization with the mediation function, stipulates, with reference to the mature experience of foreign collective management organizations,a mechanism for resolving disputes over standards of royalties between the collective copyright management organization and users, i.e., the parties may apply for a ruling with the national copyright authority,and if the parties are not satisfied with the ruling,they may institute a lawsuit with the court；and the parties may directly institute a lawsuit with the court as well.The collective copyright management organization is obliged to disclose,to the public,the overall situations on the collection and transfer of royalties,the withdrawal and use of management fees and the unallocated royalties on a regular basis, and to establish a rights information inquiry system. Meanwhile, the competent national copyright authority shall supervise and manage collective copyright management organizations.These are exciting changes of the new Copyright Law.
Such a scheme responds to long-standing concerns of all sectors of society towards collective copyright management organizations,functions as a vital mechanism for regulating the healthy development of collective copyright management organizations, exerting their social governance function and safeguarding social fairness and justice, and is conducive to improving the transparency of collective copyright management organizations and enhancing their service capabilities and levels.
At the same time, the provisions of the newly revised Copyright Law on punitive damages, administrative penalties and technical protection measures lay the solid legal foundation for the development of collective copyright management organizations in China.
The third revision of the Copyright Law conforms to the requirements of the development of the new era and meets the actual demands of China's economic and social development,responds to challenges caused by technological development,and clarifies the legal boundaries and responsibilities of the creation, dissemination, utilization, management and protection of copyrighted works.The new Copyright Law,which will come into force on 1 June 2021, will surely play a positive role in implementing the innovation-driven development strategy,constructing China into an intellectual property power and a cultural power, and boosting the rule of law and high-quality economic and social development in China.(https://www.daowen.com)
In spite of years-long calls, the third revision of the Copyright Law still did not solve such issues as penalties for nonpayment of copyright royalties for statutory license including reproduction by newspapers and periodicals,textbooks and by broadcasting organizations,a mechanism for safeguarding the right to remunerations based on statutory license that right holders have long criticized,and the inclusion of online reproductions in “statutory license”.It is expected that those issues will be considered and solved through revising supporting administrative regulations, such as the Implementing Regulations of the Copyright Law,by the State Council and revising judicial interpretations by the Supreme People's Court.
(Originally published in China Patents＆ Trademarks,2021,No.2)
【注释】
[1]In the Draft for Second Deliberation and the Draft for Voting,the provision is adjusted as Article 54.
[2]Ibid.