Recently, the Council meeting of CIAGP was held in New York, and the Images Copyright Society of China (ICSC) was invited to participate in the meeting. At the meeting, ICSC concluded copyright protection agreements with the American Artists Copyright Association, the British Visual Artists Association, the French Visual Artists Association, the Spanish Artists Copyright Association, the Swedish Visual Artists Association, the Japanese Art Copyright Association and the Australian Visual Artists Association, agreeing that the above seven countries launched copyright protection for Chinese photographers’ works. In addition, ICSC reached initial intent of cooperation with Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico and other countries.

According to the agreements, the above seven countries would collect royalties for Chinese photographers in various fields such as the Internet, public communication, exhibition, advertising, publication, leasing and any type of reproduction in their respective countries, and transfer these royalties to ICSC, which then would be transferred to copyright holders. Director-General of ICSC Lin Tao introduced that the conclusion of the agreements indicated that the copyright protection for Chinese visual art works went global. It was another important progress of internationalization of China’s copyright protection with epoch-making significance. He said that with the steady and rapid development of China’s economy and the deepening of economic and cultural exchanges with the international community, copyright protection had been paid more and more attention by all sectors of society, especially the group of artists. Domestic artists also hoped to cooperate with the artists of various countries and related international organizations to protect each other’s copyright. The conclusion of the copyright protection agreements with the seven countries would not only benefit Chinese artists, but also have a positive impact on the healthy development of the international copyright protection.

Author: Jiang Xu

Source: China Intellectual Property News

Update: October 16, 2017