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China-UK Copyright Roundtable Held in Beijing
2018-07-04

On the afternoon of June 26, after the conclusion of the China-UK copyright international meeting, the China-UK Copyright Roundtable co-sponsored by the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) and UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) was held in Beijing. Both sides held discussions on three major topics: new developments in copyright policy making, new progress of copyright enforcement activities and achievements, and problems and challenges faced by copyright enforcement in the digital environment. This is the fourth high-level mutual visit and exchange between the two countries under the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding on China-UK Copyright Strategic Cooperation which was signed in 2010.


Yu Cike, Director General of Copyright Department of NCAC, said at the roundtable, the world was rapidly developing and changing in a new era, not only technology was advancing, but also culture, art and other sectors were undergoing new changes, which had raised new problems and challenges for copyright and the environment copyright depended on. Not only rights holders and relevant copyright organizations had to face them, countries should also face up the issues and solve them together, which required us to study and improve the copyright law system and copyright law enforcement measures collectively. Over the years, NCAC and UK IPO had maintained a sound cooperative relationship. The two sides had held various forums, talent trainings and other exchange activities. Facing new problems and challenges in the digital environment, both China and UK need not only to seek new conceptual breakthroughs and new institutional designs on the basis of copyright system, but also to demonstrate confidence in building a dynamic balance mechanism of copyright interests within the digital environment in order to greet a beautiful new era of copyright.


Ros Lynch, Copyright and IP Enforcement Director at UK IPO, highly praised the achievements of the Chinese government in combating infringement and piracy in recent years, and introduced the latest developments in the EU’s copyright enforcement policy. She said that recent years had witnessed very smooth cooperation and exchanges between the UK IPO and the NCAC. On this basis, relevant copyright agencies and organizations from the British side had communicated and coordinated with some provincial and municipal copyright enforcers in China on a number of infringement and piracy cases, and also signed cooperative agreements with Internet companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu. At present, the progress of digital technology had not only created a larger market for the content industry, but also enabled wrongdoers of infringement and piracy to seek profits. To deal with the new challenge arising from internet copyright enforcement, it was impossible to rely on a single country to fight alone, but to need the exchange, sharing and mutual help from each other. In the process of establishing and implementing the reform of single digital market in the EU, UK had played a leading role in many areas, including the limitations and exceptions of rights in the digital environment, the setting of new rights of publishers as well as the identification of the responsibility of platform vendors. Although China and the UK are separated by thousands of miles, we had a shared mission of protecting intellectual property rights. In internet copyright  enforcement, China and the UK need to explore a new legal system more deeply to regulate the technical challenges from the powerful internet platform and support the rights holders in protecting their rights more effectively.


At the roundtable, China briefed the achievements to the British side on carrying out the special campaign of "Jianwang 2017" made by China , and the key tasks and preliminary considerations for the upcoming "Jianwang 2018", which would incorporate news reprints, short video, animation, audio books and related works into the key areas of the special rectification program. Zhang Yuguo, Chairman of the International Publishers Copyright Protection Coalition in China and other attendants introduced three significant benefits obtained by British publishers in China’s market and four challenges they faced, as well as newly spotted developments and cases regarding internet copyright.


Tang Zhaozhi, Deputy Director General of Copyright Department of NCAC, presided over the conference. Officials from the State Administration for Market Regulation and the British Embassy in China and more than 30 representatives of copyright collective management organizations, related industrial associations and enterprises shared the practical experience and specific cases of copyright law enforcement in China and the UK in the digital environment, and discussed important issues such as copyright system development, rights management and international cooperation in a technical environment.



Author: Lai Mingfang

Updated: June 28, 2018