Recently, the National Copyright Administration of the People’s Republic of China (NCAC) released the Top 10 events of Chinese Copyright in 2013. On the list there were the work for inspecting and installing copyrighted software for governmental organizations being completed, the implementation of the relevant copyright regulations amended by the State Council taking effect, the number of registered works exceeding one million for the first time in China, Mr. Qian Zhongshu’s manuscript and letters being auctioned, etc.

The Top 10 events were the following:

1. The work for inspecting and installing copyrighted software for governmental organizations were completed successfully. By the end of December 2013, 31 provinces have finished the inspection and installation of copyrighted software for all the governmental organizations at the prefecture-level and county level cities. Till then, the installation of copyrighted software among the governmental organizations at four levels as central, provincial, prefecture and county. The use of copyrighted software led by the governmental organizations would have demonstrative effect and therefore bring a fundamental improvement for the Chinese IP environment.

2. The relevant copyright regulations amended by the State Council took effect. Regulations for the Protection of Computer Software, Regulation on the Implementation of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, and Regulation on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information amended by the State Council were formally implemented since March 1, 2013. The amendment mainly increased the amount of administrative penalty against copyright infringement.

3. The number of registered works in China exceeded one million for the first time. The number of registrations in China made a breakthrough and exceeded one million in the year of 2013. Among them, registration of software copyright continued a rapid growth and reached a total number of 164,000, with a year-on-year growth of 18%; other registered works altogether exceeded 845,000, increasing by 22.9% compared with that of 2012.

4. Copyright Society of China (CSC) appraised and selected for the first time “Lifetime Achievement Award for Chinese Copyright”. In the 6th Annual Meeting of Chinese Copyright held on November 30, 2013, CSC gave the 'Lifetime Achievement Award of Chinese Copyright” for the first time, and Mr. Muwen SONG, Mr. Gao LIU, Mr. Shoukang GUO and Ms. Jianfen GU who have made great contribution to Chinese Copyright won the special prize.

5. National Copyright Administration imposed administrative sanctions on Baidu Inc. and QVOD Technology Co., Ltd for their infringement of copyright. In the 9th “Sword Net Action” (a special campaign against online IP infringement) in 2013, the National Copyright Administration imposed administrative sanctions, including cease of infringing acts and a fine of 250,000 yuan, on Baidu Inc. and QVOD Technology Co. Ltd for their acts of disseminating large amounts of infringing and pirated films and television programs via their players. The sanctions regulated effectively the order of spreading films and television programs online.

6. China signed the Marrakesh Treaty passed by WIPO. On June 28, 2013, 186 member states of WIPO concluded successfully the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled in Marrakesh, Morocco (the Marrakesh Treaty). This was another international copyright treaty passed by WIPO after the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances passed in 2012 in Beijing. Chinese government signed the final text of this Treaty.

7. National Copyright Administration enacted the Measures for Paying Remuneration to Statutory Licensed Works for Textbooks. The implementation of Measures for Paying Remuneration to Statutory Licensed Works for Textbooks from December 1, 2013 marked that the textbook compiler and publisher would start to pay the copyright owners for their texts, music, work of art and photography works used in the textbooks according to the standard provided in the Measures. The copyright owners would obtain remuneration from the various textbooks since then.

8. Chinese copyright-related industries contributed 6.57% to GDP. Studies on Economic Contributions of the Copyright-Related Industries in 2010 in China published in 2013 indicated that the copyright-related industries created a ＆#118alue of 2,630 billion yuan which accounted for 6.57% of the national GDP. The result of the study manifested that Chinese copyright industries have kept a smooth and steady growth in recent years and have been playing a more and more important role in the economic development.

9. The auction of Mr. Qian Zhongshu’s manuscript and letters drew extensive attention from the society. Sungari Auction announced in May 2013 to auction the manuscripts and letters of Mr. Qian Zhongshu and his wife Ms. Yang Jiang (both are very famous Chinese writers). Ms. Yang firmly opposed the auction by publishing an open letter. The National Copyright Administration declared on May 29, 2013 that the acts of Sungari Auction were suspected of infringing copyright. The Second Intermediate People’s Court of Beijing ruled on June 3, 2013 and prohibited Sungari Auction to carry out infringing act against copyright. This event attracted broad attention from the public and media.

10. An early warning mechanism for copyright supervision in key aspects was started. The work of copyright supervision in key aspects had made new progress and the early warning and protection work of supervision for audiovisual works in key aspects have been launched. The scope had been expended to 20 video websites and 5 music websites. Opinions on Strengthening Active Supervision on Copyright on Key Websites and Opinions on Further Strengthening Supervision on Dissemination of Works via Internet were released, which improved the long-term mechanism for supervising and protecting works disseminated via the Internet.

Date: March 3, 2014         
Source: China Press and Publishing Journal