Copyright legal system dovetailing the international regulations established in China, GAPP

At the press conference held in 2008 Beijing International Media Center on August 16, Yan Xiaohong, Vice Minister of General Administration of Press and Publication and Deputy Commissioner of the National Copyright Administration notes that China has made outstanding achievements in copyright development and established a set of legal system of copyright protection, which is in line with not only the Chinese situation, but also the international practice.

According to Yan, since 1990, China has promulgated and implemented the Copyright Law, Regulations for the Implementation of Copyright Law, Regulations for the Protection of Computer Software, Collective Management of Copyright Regulations and Regulation on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information, and has acceded to the Universal Copyright Convention, Berne Convention, Phonograms Convention, WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, forming a comparatively complete copyright legal system.

Yan notes that the parallel scheme of judicial protection and administration law enforcement is the prominent characteristic and the basic advantage of China's copyright protection system. Practice shows that such scheme is in line with China's current situations and the requirements of copyright protection. China is a big developing country with imbalanced regional economic development and imperfect market economic system. The parallel scheme can not only help judicature to play the leading roles in copyright protection, but also give play to the advantages of administrative law enforcement of promptness, simple procedures and high efficiency.

Yan says that China has basically established the copyright system of social service. The system, consisting of various copyright associations, copyright collective management organizations, works registration organs, certificating organs, copyright agencies and right safeguarding organizations is now beginning to take shape and is playing an important role in serving the society and the industry to form the sound environment of right licensing and utilization. Meanwhile, China attaches great importance to and actively participates in copyright cooperation and exchanges in the international community, actively attends various multilateral copyright exchanges and cooperation such as the WIPO and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), actively promotes bilateral copyright cooperation between China and the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea and Australia, and discusses and consults the issues of common concern such as protection of computer software, network copyright protection, protection of folk literature and art so as to constantly development multilateral and bilateral copyright cooperation.

Yan indicates that Chinese people knew nothing about copyright 30 years ago; now, copyright is known to all in China and copyright protection has penetrated into every aspect of China's social life, forming the social atmosphere of "advocating innovation and respecting copyright." Actually the atmosphere was not formed naturally, but the result of Chinese Government's high recognition and persistent propaganda and education.