On July 19, the 13th China-ROK Copyright Seminar, with the theme of “Development of Copyright Industry in the Intelligent Environment in China and ROK” was held in Dalian, Liaoning Province. Sponsored by National Copyright Administration of the People’s Republic of China (NCAC) and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea (MCST), the event was organized by Liaoning Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (Copyright Administration), Korea Copyright Commission, Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Television of Dalian and China Universal Press & Publication Co., Ltd. And it attracted more than 140 representatives of Chinese and Korean government agencies of copyright, relevant international organizations, copyright collective management organizations, academic community and industries to participate.

The seminar was held in accordance with the copyright cooperation agreement signed between NCAC and MCST (Cooperation Agreement between the National Copyright Administration of China and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of ROK), and work plan of the two sides in 2017. During the seminar, Yu Cike, Director General of Copyright Department of NCAC, noted that through the panel discussion, case analysis, experience sharing and general discussion, the two sides would not only demonstrate their new achievements in copyright protection and innovation in the intelligent environment for in-depth discussions on enhanced cooperation and exchanges in copyright-related areas, such as videos, games, music and online cartoon, but also share successful experience to explore effective solutions to their problems. Park Tae-young, copyright policy officer of MCST, believed that since 2006 when the two countries signed the cooperation agreement on copyright, experts in copyright and industry delegates have gathered together every year to discuss the solutions to problems for the development of copyright industry. With the arrival of the fourth Industrial Revolution, new intelligent technology was booming, causing dramatic changes in the environment of dissemination of content industry, thus leaving many problems about copyright unresolved. Under the circumstance, joint efforts made by China and ROK to hold seminars for exploration of how to adjust copyright laws and policies and business operation modes were of great significance.

Most participants at the seminar said that at present, in content industries such as films, television programs, publication, games and animation, the model of “international + new media” had become the most popular one for communication, which is vulnerable to online infringement and piracy of APPs and network “black boxes”. Statistics show that as of December 2016, there were about 2.7 million illegal streaming devices with advertising businesses worldwide, and the largest 100 IPTV sites with pirated materials receive 16.46 million hits per month. Since the absence of copyright protection system will lead to imbalanced development of content industry, we need to adjust and update the system in a timely manner to adapt to development of new technologies, encourage legitimate innovation, as well as ensure the benefit balance between copyright owners and users. As the upgrading of legal system lags behind the rapid development of intelligent technology, it is necessary to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation such as between China and ROK.

Liu Xiangyang, Director General of Liaoning Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television and Lim Wonsun, Chairman of Korea Copyright Commission attended and addressed the opening ceremony. Tang Zhaozhi, Deputy Director General of Copyright Department of NCAC and Kim Seong-yeol, official of the Copyright Policy Division of MCST gave an account of changes and current situation of legal systems and policies of copyright in China and ROK respectively; Yang Jianjun, Chairman of Liaoning Publishing Group and Choe Kyong-soo, Vice Chairman of Korea Copyright Law Commission, provided information on strategies of China and ROK for the development of copyright industry and future forms of cooperation in the intelligent environment; Yan Bo, Deputy Director of Copyright and Legal Affairs Office of CCTV and Chairman of the Intellectual Property and Legal Committee, Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, Ma Ruifeng, Chief Editor of Liaoning Radio and Television, Xiang Jizheng, Technical Manager of ZWSOFT, Wu Hao, Director of Network Department of Dalian Comprehensive Law Enforcement of Cultural Market Administration, Park Yong-seok, COM2US Korea’s representative  and Kim Shin, professor of Joongbu University shared their own cases of practices.

In 2006, NCAC and MCST signed the Cooperation Agreement between the National Copyright Administration of China and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of ROK, in which they agreed to cooperate extensively with each other in copyright legislation, law enforcement and industry development, establish copyright talent training and information exchange mechanism, hold seminars with a focus on copyright protection, and strengthen substantive exchanges and cooperation in the field of copyright. From 2006 to 2016, under the framework of the Agreement, cooperation between the two countries have achieved fruitful outcomes: the China-ROK Copyright Seminar has been jointly held 12 times by NCAC and MCST, with topics ranging from copyright legislation and law enforcement to copyright cooperation model, collective management of copyright, software copyright protection, copyright protection of film and television works and industrial development in the digital environment; relevant organizations and industry representatives were organized to directly exchanges views with each other, thus contributing to exchanges and cooperation between China and ROK’s copyright industries; the two sides also exchanged visits of delegations, held 12 inter-governmental working-level talks for an exchange of views on major issues such as copyright legislation, law enforcement, cooperation and international copyright protection, and promoted their negotiations on copyright in the China-ROK Free Trade Area; publicity activities for copyright protection were carried out, such as the public service announcements jointly produced by the two countries that are now broadcast on television and online.

At present, bilateral exchange programs, focusing on the China-ROK Copyright Seminar, intergovernmental working-level talks and exchanging visits of industry representatives, have become not only major platforms for copyright cooperation and exchange between China and ROK, but important channels for the two countries to exchange views on topics of common concern, providing industries with a service mechanism on copyright protection research, dispute resolution and trade cooperation, to which the two governments and copyright industries attach great importance.

Author/Photo：Lai Mingfang

Update: July 20, 2017