On June 19, Zhou Huilin, Vice Minister of State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China (SAPPRFT) and Vice Minister of National Copyright Administration of the People’s Republic of China (NCAC) attended the International Forum on Copyright: Protecting the Rights of Creators and Promoting the Development of Culture and Film Industry held in Shanghai. He said at the opening ceremony that China will further strengthen film copyright protection and strictly enforce management in this field, to establish a sound and healthy movie ecology.

Zhou Huilin pointed out that the film industry is important to the whole copyright industry. On the one hand, the film industry, as the most dynamic and vivid mass art and modern media, has the highest level of globalization, especially in the digital era when movie transmission has never been so faster. The film industry has become a new economic growth point. On the other hand, the cinematographic works are the main targets of copyright protection. Writers, scriptwriters, composers, directors, actors, producers and the like may become the copyright subject of cinematographic works. Copyright will be an issue throughout the whole process from movie creation to movie release, as well as derivatives creation. It can be said that copyright is vitally interrelated with all the actors in the film industry. Therefore, to strengthen film copyright protection can ensure the respect for creators’ works and is conducive to the prosperity of the film industry.

Zhou Huilin stressed that, facing rapid network development and new technologies, the traditional copyright protection system is seriously challenged, and can barely satisfy the actual demands of film copyright protection in the digital era. As copyright attribution and authorization model are uncertain in many cases, a lot of tough issues have gradually emerged. Therefore, to strengthen the protection of creators’ rights and film copyright has been a main task to the film industry and copyright industry, so as to construct an effective protection mechanism and legal basis for cross-border transmission and use of cinematographic works. To this end, NCAC has paid more efforts to amend laws and rules, aiming to regulate the copyright market of audio-visual works from the national level, and enhance public awareness of copyright protection. In Jianwang Campaign, an annual action initiated in 2005, film and TV piracy has been regarded as a priority. This campaign, through case investigations, crackdown of pirate sites, and punishments & sanctions, has effective deterred online infringement and piracy. Therefore, the rampant online infringement and piracy have been basically curbed, and the network order of the film and television industry has been maintained. In the near future, China will further polish up its film copyright protection system, strictly carry out law enforcement, and intensify the punishment against infringement, so as to exercise control over infringement against law, effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of creators of cinematographic works, and promote the prosperity of the film industry.

WIPO officials, heads of copyright authorities, ambassadors to China, and representatives from foreign-related copyright certification organizations, organizations for collective administration of copyright and copyright enterprises from nearly 30 countries attended this event.

Author/Photo：Lai Mingfang

Update：June 19, 2017