Experts gather to discuss Internet Copyright Law revision

About 80 law experts gather in Beijing Hotel on Saturday, Sept. 20 to discuss potential changes to China's Internet Copyright Law. (Photo: ECNS)

(ECNS) – About 80 law experts from China's legal system, universities and research centers gathered in Beijing on Saturday to discuss potential changes to the Internet Copyright Law.

At a conference jointly held by Zhuoya Research Center, Tsinghua University and China Intellectual Property Society, experts agreed that China's Internet Copyright Law is in urgent need of revision to deal with increasing infringements and keep up with fast-changing technology.

Copyright infringement has become a glaring problem in China. Today's Headlines, one of China's most downloaded news aggregation apps, was investigated by China's copyright watchdog in June and ordered a revamp in September.

Judge Wang Yanfang of the Supreme People's Court said major questions need to be clarified before the law revision, such as how to define Internet copyright and infringements, whether online intermediaries are responsible to prevent such infringements, and whether there should be a "safe harbor" for online service providers if they block access to alleged infringing material as soon as they get an infringement claim.

Although developed countries in North America and Europe have set examples in copyright laws, China has to chart its own course with its special legal, technological and societal situations, experts said.

Cui Guobing, professor at East China University of Political Science and Law, said China is not used to harsh punishments on copyright infringements compared with its Western counterparts, and users generally don't care much about the sources of information and are unwilling to pay for contents. In a country with the world's largest number of mobile users in the world, more problems need to be solved, such as whether transcoding a website counts as a copyright infringement.