The
Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication (Copyright Bureau)
has announced new regulations for the protection of copyrights in China
in an effort to curb the rampant piracy affecting the music industry.
To be effective from 1 June 2011, the following are some of the significant regulations and guidelines being proposed: |
| 1) |
Service
Providers should follow and actively publicize the Copyright Law and
related laws and regulations whilst undertaking efforts to fight piracy
and copyright infringements to promote the development of a healthier
industry |
|
| 2) |
A Service
Provider who provides file-sharing and hosting services is required to
highlight in a prominent position on the homepage of its service that
users are not permitted to upload contents without permission from the
Copyright Owners. |
|
| 3) |
A
Service Provider who provides file-sharing and hosting services is
required to record relevant registration information of its users such
as name and IP address and keep it for future reference for 180 days.
It is encouraged that the Service Provider adopts a real-name
registration system for such a service |
|
| 4) |
It
is the responsibility of the Service Providers to introduce and
administer effective measures to deter and restrain those who upload
unlicensed material including terminating the offending users’ service
and also reporting these infringing acts to copyright law enforcement
authorities. |
|
| 5) |
Service
Providers who provide file-sharing and hosting services are required to
adhere to copyright laws and take necessary technical measures to
prevent unlicensed works being uploaded including the following: |
|
| |
a) Movies, TV series and other professionally produced long form videos
b) Works which display the publishing/ copyright symbol
c) Live television/ network broadcasts
d) Works from known authors, producers
e) Popular hit works |
|
| 6) |
A
Service Provider who provides file-sharing and hosting services,
search, links or acts as a channel needs to employ effective technical
measures to prevent users uploading or linking to copyrighted works as
specified below: |
|
| |
a) The same
copyrighted work uploaded by the same user that had been previously
removed based on notification from the Copyright Owner
b) The
same copyrighted work with the same link that had been previously taken
down/ disconnected based on notification from the Copyright Owner
c) Works with declared Copyright Ownership as stated publicly on assigned websites of the Copyright Bureau department
d) Other copyrighted works that the Service Provider knows of, or should have known that the user does not have the right to upload or disseminate
e) Service
Providers and Copyright Owners are encouraged to set up infringement
prevention mechanisms including fingerprinting or watermarking/ DNA
methods to better manage unrestrained infringing uploads or linking |
|
| 7) |
A
Service Provider who provides file-sharing and hosting services, search
and links needs to establish a specialized department solely for the
purpose of processing take-down notices, including the acceptance of
notices, removal of infringing contents and links. |
|
| |
a) The
Service Provider is required to immediately accept and take action on
the take-down notice sent online or via email or letter in conformation
with the Regulations on the Protection of the Right to Network
Dissemination of Information
b) The Service Provider should remove the infringing content/ link immediately upon notice from the Copyright Owner, or latest within 24 hours if there is too much content or links to deal with and the take-down
process is relatively complicated. If the Service Provider is unable to
take down the infringing content/ link within 24 hours, they should
provide an explanation to the Copyright Owner in writing immediately
c) For live television/ network broadcasts, the Service Provider should remove any infringing content or links immediately upon notice from a Copyright Owner. Only in complex take-down
situations will the Service Provider be allowed to complete it at the
latest, in an hour.
d) Service Providers are
encouraged to provide Copyright Owners with a specialized back-end
‘green channel’ access to oversee and provide information to Service
Providers for easy removal of infringing content/ links |
|
| 8) |
Copyright
Owners are encouraged to state the copyright information of respective
content/ products publicly on assigned websites of the Copyright Bureau
which the public (and Service Providers) are able to check |
|
| 9) |
Copyright
Owners are encouraged to provide information about their works which
are available for licensing on assigned websites of the Copyright
Bureau – and this will also aid Copyright Owners as they seek to
license their works |
|
| 10) |
Service
Providers are required to follow the Copyright Law and relevant
regulations, and coordinate with the Copyright Bureau with regards to
regular supervision, law enforcement inspection and legal training |
|
| 11) |
Copyright
Owners are encouraged to exercise their power and right to issue
take-down notices when their works are being infringed, and thus
maintain their lawful right.
|
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