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Judge: Laws for Internet Needed
China is drafting special regulations on Internet copyrights to fill the current legal vacuum and prevent piracy of literary works, officials said.
Wang Haopeng, director of the National Copyright Administration's copyright department, said the administration is working on rules to govern on-line publication of copyrighted material.
"We are trying our best to come up with rules as soon as possible," Wang said yesterday in a telephone interview.
The rules would set up a legal framework for websites and copyright owners to settle copyright disputes.
At present, Chinese copyright law contains no provisions that apply to the Internet, said a legal expert in the L&A law firm.
But an amendment to the copyright law may take a while in coming. "A temporary regulation would help a lot," said Wang, though he did not specify an exact timetable for it.
Insiders said the trial rules are expected to give a clearer definition of website's publishing rights and will also cover the audio/video sector.
The proliferation of the Internet into business over recent years has led to dozens of copyright disputes in China.
In a typical case, the website www.bol.com.cn was taken to court for copyright infringement for posting stories without the permission of authors.The website lost the case and was ordered to pay compensation to six writers.
The case reflected the influence of Internet publications and exposed the weaknesses of the legal system to handle such disputes, said Xin Shangmin, a judge with the Haidian intellectual property right court in Beijing.
Moreover, "Verdicts in a few lawsuits are not enough to set up the basic principles to deal with Internet copyright infringement,"said Wang, "We need a sound legal framework for people to follow."
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