The Training on Overseas Risk Prevention and Control of Copyright Industry 2024, jointly organized by the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and supported by the Hunan Provincial Copyright Bureau, was held in Changsha, Hunan Province from December 11 to 13. Mr. Wang Zhicheng, Director General of the Copyright Administration of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee; Liu Hua, Director of the WIPO Office in China; and Qing Lixin, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee, attended the training and delivered speeches. More than 100 representatives of industry and persons in charge of copyright departments in various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities participated in the training.

To expand, develop, and internationalize China’s creative and copyright industry, we must enhance the awareness and ability of overseas risk prevention and control. According to the Memorandum of Cooperation signed between NCAC and WIPO, the two parties carried out cooperation in the field of copyright training to cultivate international copyright practitioners through training courses. This is the sixth session held by both parties, aiming to deeply study and comprehend Xi Jinping's cultural thoughts, and obey the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches. In addition, it strives to enable cultural enterprises to further grasp the new situation and new characteristics of foreign-related copyright work through centralized training, strengthen their compliance awareness and risk awareness, help establish bottom-line thinking, broaden international vision and development ideas, and enhance the international risk prevention and control capabilities, international operation capabilities and international communication capabilities of copyright work.

The training pointed out that recent years have witnessed the rapid development of China's copyright industry and more extensive and deeper internationalization of copyright. Relevant data showed that the proportion of China's copyright industry in the national economy has increased steadily. In 2022, the added value of China's copyright industry was RMB 8.97 trillion, accounting for 7.41% of the country's GDP. The copyright industry has become an important driving force for China's economic development, and the commercialization of copyright has yielded fruitful results, providing important support for the implementation of the innovation-driven strategy and the optimization and upgrading of the economic structure. Nowadays, an increasing number of Chinese enterprises and Chinese brands are actively going overseas, expanding their international markets, and participating in international competition and cooperation.

However, at the same time, we have seen that international trade disputes caused by intellectual property issues often occur, and Chinese enterprises and brands are facing greater risks and challenges when going overseas. The international risks of copyright are particularly prominent for enterprises focusing on cultural products and content products. To ensure long-term and steady growth for enterprises, it is necessary to strengthen forward-looking thinking and strategic layout, and build and improve the international risk prevention and control system of the copyright industry.

The training put forward three requirements. First, from the perspective of the overall strategic situation of the Party and the country, we should deeply understand the significance of the prevention and control of international copyright risks, and serve national foreign-related work and the program of Building an Intellectual Property Powerhouse. Second, it is necessary to strengthen the mission, pay close attention to the implementation of the work, and build and improve the international risk prevention and control system of the copyright industry. Local copyright authorities, enterprises, industry associations and collective management organizations, as important participants in smoothing the circulation of the domestic copyright industry, should shoulder this important task, actively respond to international copyright disputes and infringements, and effectively safeguard the rights and interests of rights holders. In addition, cooperation with WIPO and relevant foreign institutions should be strengthened. Third, it is necessary to strengthen international communication capacity-building, tell well the story of China's copyright, enhance the soft power of Chinese culture, and demonstrate the image of China as a responsible copyright powerhouse.

Wang Zhijia, former Deputy Director of the Division of Regional Cooperation of the United Nations Environment Programme and Special-term Professor of Tongji University, gave a detailed explanation of cross-cultural communication and foreign-related etiquette in the first course. During the three-day training, the organizers invited Wang Ye, Consultant of WIPO China; Feng Hua, Secretary-General of Beijing Publishing Copyright Association; Leandro Toscano, Head of Business Development and Digital Content Dispute, WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center; Deng Yuhua, Consultant of WIPO Office in China; Zhang Xue, the fourth-generation inheritor of Xue's embroidery; Wang Ruiting, Vice President of China Literature Group, etc. They discussed the prevention and control of overseas copyright risks, how to create a new pattern of well-coordinated and inter-connected copyright services, experiences of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center in resolving copyright disputes, international markets of Suzhou embroidery, and the internationalization of cultural innovation empowered by copyright.