On October 19, the 7th China International Copyright Expo organized by the National Copyright Administration of China(NCAC) with the support of the Jiangsu Provincial Copyright Administration and the People’s Government of Suzhou Municipality was held in Suzhou. Themed by “Communication, Cooperation, Innovation and Development”, the expo aimed at presenting achievements in the copyright industry and sharing experiences in carrying out copyright work in China and abroad, so as to promote sustainable and rapid development of the copyright industry. Yu Cike, Director General of the Copyright Department of NCAC, Wang Binying, Deputy Director General of WIPO,Mun Young Ho, Director General of the Copyright Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, Miu Zhihong, Director General of the Jiangsu Provincial Copyright Administration, and Li Yaping, Mayor of the People’s Government of Suzhou Municipality delivered speeches at the forum. Guests from home and abroad attended the opening ceremony, including senior officials from international copyright agencies, officials of the copyright departments of governments of different countries, representatives from copyright-related organizations and the copyright industry.

Director General Yu Cike read the written speech of Liang Yanshun, Vice Minister of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of CPC. In his speech, Liang believed that with the advancement of the economic globalization and global integration, the intellectual property right, including copyright, would become strategic resources for a country’s development and a core factor for a country’s international competitiveness. Meanwhile, it is a pillar for China to build an innovation-oriented country  that is strong in culture. Since the 18th Party Congress, the Central Party Committee and the State Council paid much more attention to the work of intellectual property right than ever before, and issued many important papers, such asSeveral Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating the Construction of Great Power in Intellectual Property Rights Industry under the New Situation. The year 2018 marked the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening-up, with the effort of which China has integrated with the rest of the world. China maintains close cooperation and exchanges on copyright issues with countries from all over the world, including those along the “Belt and Road”, seeking to build a cross-border cooperation mechanism on cracking down on pirate products, and promote the dissemination of outstanding works in an organized way, so as to create a favorable international environment for the creation and protection of copyright. He hoped that friends from the copyright circle at home and abroad could strengthen communication, learn from each other, seek for common development and realize mutual beneficial and win-win results through the expo, use and protect the copyright in a more effective manner and bring benefits to people from all over the world.

Wang Binying, Deputy Director General of WIPO, said that driven by “advancing popular entrepreneurship and innovation”, China has made itself among the most innovative countries, and plays an increasingly positive role in global dialogues about intellectual property right. In recent years, the cooperation between WIPO and China witnessed substantial progress. In August 2018, when meeting Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO, Premier Li Keqiang said that China would like to deepen cooperation with WIPO and work in joint hands to initiate an open, inclusive, impartial and effective international rules for intellectual property right. In the future, WIPO will make its contribution to help China seek for further development in intellectual property right.

As the representative of the guests of honor, Director General Mun Young Ho said that China and Korea maintain long-standing cooperation in the aspect of copyright. This September the 14th China-Korea Copyright Forum and Intergovernmental Talks were successfully held in Seoul, at which the two sides reached an agreement on strengthening cooperation on copyright, hoping to help bring copyright protection go up a storey still higher. In addition to intergovernmental cooperation, China and Korea would give much support to nongovernmental exchanges between the two peoples, hoping that a multi-channel and multi-facet communication mechanism would be established on the governmental, organizational and grass root level, so as to further strengthen cooperation and exchanges in the cultural and copyright fields.

Director General Miu Zhihong mentioned in her speech that Jiangsu Province attaches great importance to copyright protection, and regards it as an important measure to build an innovation-oriented province that is strong in culture. The value-added of the copyright industry of Jiangsu Province reached 650.8 billion yuan in 2016, accounting for 8.55% of the total GDP of the province, and keeping its position as a pillar in national economy. The next step of Jiangsu Province is to initiate high quality development of the copyright industry, and make new contribution to building a competitive, beautiful and wealthy Jiangsu as well as to China’s efforts in copyright protection.

Mayor Li Yaping pointed out that holding the expo in Suzhou was an encouragement and stimulus to Suzhou’s work in copyright. Leveraging the role of expo, Suzhou will further boost its exchanges and cooperation with the rest of the world, advance its effort in copyright protection, management and achievement transformation, build first-class business environment and creative ecosystem, and make positive contribution to the development of copyright in Jiangsu Province and China.  

The China International Copyright Expo is the only comprehensive and normalized copyright expo at the national level held by NCAC based on the principles of international, professional and marketization. Since the first edition in 2008, six expos in many other cities such as Beijing, Chengdu and Guangzhou have been successfully held and received positive responses from many countries, regions and companies while winning high praise from WIPO, governments at all levels, and trade associations. It has become an influential expo in boosting domestic and international exchanges and cooperation in copyright. The 7th expo, covering a total area of 26,000 square meters and involving more than 300 exhibitors, is divided into five exhibition areas, namely, international exhibition area, domestic exhibition area, copyright industry area, Jiangsu exhibition area and copyright projects roadshow area, exhibiting excellent copyright works such as books, videos, films and music, animation and games, computer software, and fine art works, which evidenced the development of the copyright industry in China and all over the world.