Copyright Piracy of Communist Books is Not Patriotic

Photo Danny Friedmann
"A book is like a garden that you can put into your pocket"

IP Dragon Weekend Edition

As the Chinese proverb goes "a book is like a garden that you can put in your pocket." However, you cannot multiply books just as plants (well not in the case of genetically modified plants), even though the government might find the books commendable.

The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) said that the authorities have seized 27 suspects so far for pirating a book on the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Mu Xuequan writes for Xinhua. Eight publishers and binderies were closed in Sanhe City, in Hebei.
Mu writes: "Five officials also received punishments for dereliction of duty".

The book that was counterfeited was the second book in the series about the crucial period 1949-1978 period. From the founding of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong until the economic reforms and opening up to the world policy of Deng Xiaoping.

The GAPP tries now to fight copyright piracy by launching the Green Bookmark campaign "aimed to persuade the public to buy authorized publications." But how can one avoid that the copyright pirates copy the Green Bookmark too?

Read the Xinhua article here.

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After 44 Years Chinese Lovers of Literature Can Legally Buy "One Hundred Years Of Solitude"

Photo Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara 

Some rights reserved

TGIF

Zhang Lei wrote a nice article for the Global Times about Thinkingdomhouse, a publisher who achieved to get a copyright license for China from Nobel Prize for Literature laureate Gabriel García Márquez to publish his masterpiece 'One hundred years of solitude' (Cien años de soledad).

"Unauthorized editions were widely available in markets as early as the 1980s, which infuriated the author, who vowed that even 150 years after his death, his works would not be authorized in China, when he visited in 1990." Well if Márquez was quoted correctly, he might be able to abstain Chinese publishers from authorised versions, but his copyright will expire 50 years after the moment he will exchange the temporary with the eternal. Then again within magic-realism, a writing style Márquez brought to great fruition, 150 years starting in the 1980s is a possibility which can not be completely excluded. It is great news that this summer an authorised version of Márquez' masterwork will be on sale in China. On the one hand it is moral rights of the author to determine whether he makes his work public or not (le droit de divulgation). On the other hand you cannot blame Chinese literature lovers that they want to read Márquez' masterpiece of which Pulitzer Prize winner William Kennedy said "the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race."

Zhang is mentioning China's membership of the Universal Copyright Convention in 1992, as the moment the publishing industry has gradually increased awareness of copyright. According to this convention an author had to put a © on their work, his name and the year of creation in order to be protected via copyright.

Article III (1.) Universal Copyright Convention: "Any Contracting 'State which, under its domestic law, requires as a condition of copyright, compliance with formalities such as deposit, registration, notice, notarial certificates, payment of fees or manufacture or publication in that Contracting State, shall regard these requirements as satisfied with respect to all works protected in accordance with this Convention and first published outside its territory and the author of which is not one of its nationals, if from the time of the first publication all the copies of the work published with the authority of the author or other copyright proprietor bear the symbol © accompanied by the name of the copyright proprietor and the year of first publication placed in such manner and location as to give reasonable notice of claim of copyright."

Interestingly, this is in contradiction to the "no formalities" requirement of article 5 (2) Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works to which China acceded in the same year. UNESCO's Universal Copyright Convention has been rather dormant lately, but it could already make a useful distinction between works in the public domain without the © and those protected by copyright. It avoids also to some extent the copyright orphan problem, because the name must be included. Creative Commons has been "ported" to China and makes clear what kind of use is allowed online, see here. 

Read the Global Times article here.    

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China's Supreme People's Court Will Tell You How Safe Safe Harbours Are

Photo Rneches
Main entrance Supreme People's Court Beijing

The writers versus Baidu case triggered the Supreme People's Court to draft a judicial interpretation of online copyright, and can be expected this year. A refinement of the Regulation on Protection to Network Dissemination of Information, is welcomed. Hopefully the Supreme People's Court will succeed in making the principles crystal clear whether a safe harbour applies or an online service provider is held contributorily liable. The president of the Supreme People's Court, Kong Xiangjun was quoted by Li Mao saying:  "The judicial interpretation would help protect copyright owners, network service providers as well as online users [..]." Judge Kong also said that half of all copyright cases were online cases. I hope they also illuminate the subject of online trademark, which sometimes is interpreted analogously with online copyright, but, given is distinct character, deserves its own attention from China's highest authority in the interpretation of the law.

Read Li Mao's article for the Global Times here.

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How bright is Bright Sword?

Is the Force with mass campaigns?

Are mass campaigns of intellectual property enforcement mere temporary patchwork, leaving untouched the underlaying problems? Most mass campaigns are still announced with starting date and expiration date. The only thing trademark counterfeiters and copyright pirates need to do is book a holiday and start after the campaign is over, reinvigorated. Now I exaggerate a bit. But mass campaigns are in my view suboptimal and overrated, despite all the impressive statistics, and to be consumed by foreign media tired about reporting on IPR infringement cases in China.

The newest campaign is named Bright Sword. The question is whether it is a bit less typical in that it will continue for quite a long time. It started November 2010 and will continue until the end of 2011. The police seized 14,185 suspects in five months, allegedly involved in over 8,000 cases of IPR infringements, according to the Public Security Ministry.

Zhang Yan and Cai Yin wrote for the China Daily that Bright Swords focuses on eight fields including fake international brands, fake food and drugs, pirated film and television works as well as organised crime. Zhang and Cai wrote in the same article that the police is targeting four activities: agriculture, fake drugs, counterfeit wine and food, as well as fake brands. If the journalists are so unclear about which categories are targeted IPR infringers have a more difficult job finding out if they need to temporarily stop their activities.

Deputy director of the ministry's economic crime investigation department, Gao Feng was quoted saying that of 7,000 production and sales outlets were shut down and that the ministry will focus on the supervision of 340 major cases to ensure thorough investigation and punishment of violators. This information is a bit cryptical: does it mean that out of 8,000 cases just 340 cases are prosecuted?

Read the China Daily article here.

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Japanese Companies Can Register Chinese Copyights in Japan: save 50 percent time

Copyright is an automatic right, which arises when it is created. (because of the 'no formalities provision' of the article 5 (2) Berne Convention). However you can register your copyright with China's National Copyright Administration, which can be helpful to establish prima face evidence, for example ownership. If companies outside China opted for registering their copyrights, they had to do so in Beijing. Until September 2008, there is a possibility for Japanese companies, to register Chinese copyrights in Tokyo.

".. Japanese companies jointly invested to establish the Golden Bridge Co. in September in Minato Ward, Tokyo," according to the Yomiuri Shimbun. Several Chinese lawyers will be dispatched at the Golden Bridge institute, to register and applications for lawsuits and mediation related to copyright in China, which will decrease the time needed for Japanese companies to register their Chinese copyrights from one month to two weeks.

In the future the institute will also register Chinese trademark rights and design patents.

Read the Yomiuri Shimbun article here.

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