Second is an imperfect legal system. Relevant laws and regulations are inadequate and industry standards are not sound. Specific laws and regulations need to be enacted. By way of example, China Copyright Law provides clearly that Quyi works fall into the scope of copyright protection and stipulates the detailed rights of copyright holders. However, there are no explicit provisions and requirements regarding obligations, amount of compensation, default liabilities and infringement penalties that may arise from use of copyrights by users, particularly by State-owned enterprises and organizations.
The Interim Measures for the Payment of Remunerations for the Broadcast of Sound Recordings by Radio and Television Stations, which took effect on January 1, 2010, has been a landmark event for achievements at this stage in current China's copyright protection work, providing reference for compensation criteria in protection of Quyi. Finally, we have seen the dawn.
Third is that it is difficult to strictly abide by the law. In this regard, Jiang Kun has had strong remarks: “I have addressed a very acute issue at the CPPCC sessions for ten consecutive years. We say it is not surprising that some of our works had been infringed in the absence of the rule of law in the past when it was utterly anarchic and lawless. But when the law is out there in the country, our copyrights and value of our creative works cannot be protected either, this is anarchic with the law.”
Furthermore, too many links and limitations are unclear. Quyi works often have many rights holders, and the difficulty to define has been an objective reason behind infringement. A Quyi work, if broadcasted on radio and television, has many rights holders in determining ownership of copyrights such as writers, performers and producers。 Legally, authorized use of a Quyi work needs consent from the three parties, and this gives rise to practical difficulties. In the face of such situation, many users choose a “short cut” to infringe. Moreover, the majority of China's Quyi artists have not had their copyright registered and are not experienced in authorization, thereby making it difficult to obtain relevant copyright protection in practice.
“The most important thing is the presence of strong media.”When talking about this point, Jiang Kun appeared to be slightly excited, “the value of our own creative works is much lower than that of repetitions. The value of creative works is often a one-off, once the payment is made, overbearing clauses are fixed accordingly and nobody will come back again on the matter. Is it an overbearing clause for a powerful media to dole out 500 yuan, 1,000 yuan or even 3,000 yuan to purchase lifetime broadcast rights? Most radio and television stations broadcast Quyi works, but neither the writer nor the performer can get any money. For instance, we demanded adaptation fees from China Central Television (CCTV), CCTV did not pay at all, and we had no other alternative. CCTV even said: It was we that paid for the filming, if you had the ability, you could pay to have it made by yourselves! ”
Collective management organizations underway
Currently, China has set up five copyright collective management organizations in music, videos, texts, photography and films, which have started to play an active role in protecting the rights of authors and promoting transmissions of works in relevant fields. However, there is not a corresponding collective management organization in the copyright of Quyi works. Some users, especially the relevant State departments, companies and enterprises which possess a large number of resources of Quyi programs, do not know “where to pay”, thereby directly causing infringement upon Quyi works. This translates into “violations committed knowingly.” Thus, the Quyi community has reached consensus over the establishment of a relevant copyright collective management organization, as soon as possible, to protect legitimate copyrights collectively. Jiang Kun said last year “establishment of the relevant copyright collective management organization and service agency should be put on the agenda in an urgent manner.”
In recent years the CQAA, under the guidance and help of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC), has launched, a large number of activities to protect Quyi copyrights and has laid a solid foundation for the establishment of a copyright collective management organization.
In order to ensure practical protection of IP rights for artists, the CQAA founded the Rights Protection Working Commission in 2007 after obtaining approval from the CFLAC. The commission has obtained authorizations from over 100 performing artists and Quyi writers who entrusted the CQAA with the exercise of copyrights on their behalf. The establishment of the commission has laid a fine foundation for launching activities to protect Quyi copyrights. In the past couple of years, the CQAA has also entered into cooperation agreements with the Beijing International Copyright Exchange, Lezhong Interactive Culture Co., Ltd., and Media Corporation of Singapore with respect to the authorization of use of copyrights of relevant owners.
According to reports, promoted by Jiang Kun, the "Commission of Protection of Rights and Interests of Works by Chinese Quyi Artists" was also founded this year, dedicated to recovery of royalties. It is learned that Liu Lanfang, Jiang Kun, Huang Hong and Dai Zhicheng have already joined the “rights protection commission”, while terms of protection for works of late cross talk masters Hou Baolin, Liu Baorui and Ma Sanli have generally over 30 years, and their relatives also joined the “rights protection commission” after lobbying from the CQAA and entrusted the latter to handle their copyright infringement matters. Currently the CQAA is making contact with nationwide radio stations, the Internet media and lawyers, through the China Quyi website (www.cnquyi.com) to prepare for the establishment of a nationwide monitoring network.
