[Ecommerce] Beijing court decision on Internet copyright

[James Love]

Not many details... but reflects growing US and EU pressure on China to 
broaden enforcement of copyright laws.  Jamie

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200303/03/eng20030303_112565.shtml

(Beijing Time) Monday, March 03, 2003
Presiding Court Judge on Protection of Internet Intellectual Property Rights
The Internet intellectual property rights have to be protected in 
compliance with the related laws and regulations, so as to provide a 
fair environment for the transmit of articles on the Internet, said a 
Supreme People's Court presiding judge on Sunday.

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The Internet intellectual property rights have to be protected in 
compliance with the related laws and regulations, so as to provide a 
fair environment for the transmit of articles on the Internet, said a 
Supreme People's Court presiding judge on Sunday.

Among anywhere from 5,000 to 6,000 cases relating to the intellectual 
property rights violations lawsuits that had gone to courts across China 
every year, said Jiang Zhipei, president of the Third Court of Civil 
Affairs, several hundred concern disputes on Internet copyrights.

Attending a "Xinhuanet Development Forum" at the sponsorship of 
Xinhuanet, Jiang acknowledged that the Internet had scored rapid 
progress in China over nearly a decade ever since the mid 1990s. The 
enacting of the relevant laws and regulations, nevertheless, had been 
lagging behind in the country. The rights of quite a few writers in this 
regard have been infringed upon as their works on the Internet were 
sometimes used by others at will without any payto them.

According to legal explanations given by the Supreme People's Court 
judge, the original authors should be paid if their articles on the 
Internet are used by others and, under no circumstances, should their 
articles be copied or reprinted provided they do not permit their fellow 
netizens to do so, said Jiang.

Moreover, he said, the State Intellectual Property Rights Office is 
working out payment standards for the use of articles on the Internet.


-- 
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org, mailto:james.love@cptech.org
tel. +1.202.387.8030, mobile +1.202.361.3040