On November 23, the National Conference on Copyright Social Service was held in Beijing, as the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups studied and carried out the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress. The conference summed up the achievements made in the establishment of the copyright models, analyzed the current problems and challenges and planned the next step of work and measures, which have great significance for implementing new development concepts and further promoting the national copyright social service in the new era.

Zhou Huilin, Vice Minister of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China (SAPPRFT) and Vice Minister of the National Copyright Administration of the People’s Republic of China (NCAC) delivered a speech titled Creating a New Situation of a Copyright Social Service in the New Era Guided by the Spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress, and awarded 2017 national copyright model cities, units and parks (bases) as well.

The conference held that since the 18th CPC National Congress, copyright social service has fully implemented decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council and closely followed the new normal of serving economic and social development. We have vigorously promoted the concept innovation, content innovation and method innovation of the copyright social service to continuously improve the work. The construction of copyright power has been sped up, so as to provide strong support for building an innovative country and a moderately prosperous society. The work has achieved remarkable results: The copyright legal system continues to develop; copyright social service makes constant improvements; a number of normative documents, such as Notice on Regulating the Registration Certificate of Works and Notice on Regulating the Registration Certificate of Electronic Versions of Works, have been promulgated. All these efforts brought the total number of registrations to over 2 million in 2016. The supervision and regulation of copyright law enforcement is increasing. From 2005 to 2016, the NCAC had been working with the relevant departments to launch Jianwang Campaign. The campaign investigated and dealt with 5,560 cases related to Internet infringement and piracy, with a legal shutdown of 3,082 infringing and pirate sites. The copyright order and environment have been improving in the last five years. The copyright industry continues its development. Value added in China’s copyright industry exceeded 5 trillion yuan in 2015, accounting for 7.3% of the GDP, of which the core copyright industry exceeded 3 trillion yuan. Copyright publicity and training have been continuously strengthened to create a favorable international copyright environment for the economic and social development in China.

The conference pointed out that General Secretary Xi Jinping indicated the promotion of innovative culture and the enhancement of the creation, protection and application of intellectual property right in the 19th CPC National Congress. These provide important principles for implementing the innovation-driven development strategy and accelerating the building of a powerful copyright nation. The national copyright administrations should take new steps in the new era by means of actively promoting the creation, protection and application of copyright, and building an innovative service-oriented country and a copyright power. They shall not only strengthen copyright creation to constantly satisfy the spiritual and cultural needs of the people, but also strengthen copyright protection to create a favorable copyright ecological environment. In addition, they shall strengthen the application of copyright to promote economic development and cultural prosperity. The creation and protection of copyright is ultimately for its application. With the continuous development of economic globalization and knowledge-based economy, copyright has become an increasingly important production factor and wealth resource. There is a huge stock of copyright resources in China, with rapid growth and great potential for application. The copyright industry has become an important pillar for national economic development and the construction of a cultural power.

The conference emphasized that building a powerful copyright country and an innovative service-oriented nation will be the central task of the copyright work in the future. The officials at the national copyright administrations shall deepen the understanding of the new scientific judgment on the change of major social contradiction in China, and have a comprehensive and profound recognition of the status and role of copyright social service in the construction of an innovative nation and a powerful copyright country. The copyright social service should be integrated into the overall layout of an innovative nation and a copyright power. The level of copyright social service will be improved though unified arrangement and coordinated promotion. Copyright social service covers copyright registration, copyright industry development, copyright publicity, copyright administrative supervision and regulation and other aspects, which reflect the socialized nature of copyright work. In carrying out the work, the officials shall highlight key issues in order to achieve the results. At the conference, five demands were put forward on the future work of copyright social service: First, we must earnestly fulfill copyright registration work; Second, the establishment of the copyright models should be deeply implemented; Third, the publicity of copyright should be enhanced; Fourth, we should promote the healthy development of copyright industry; Fifth, efforts should be increased in such work as establishment and improvement of the work security mechanism. All provincial copyright administrations should establish and improve the leadership responsibility system of the copyright social service to enhance the awareness and attention of main leaders on this work. Copyright social service should be given an overall consideration and implemented with efficiency as a broader effort, so as to ensure that the tasks of copyright social service will be put in place.

During the conference, Yu Cike, Director General of Copyright Department of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the PRC（NCAC）, interpreted and arranged the key tasks of the copyright social work during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. Representatives from Administration of Copyright of Guangdong Province, Administration of Copyright of Dongguan, Guangdong Province, Shanghai People’s Publishing House Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu Kunshan Cultural Industry Park provided information on the experience and practice of establishing the copyright models respectively.

Author: Lai Mingfang