Copyright
The rights enjoyed by authors (natural persons or legal persons) in accordance with the law with respect to writings and creations in scientific research, literature and art. Also called copyright. The world's first copyright legislation was the British Copyright Act of 1709. China promulgated the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China in 1990.
The subject of copyright is the person who enjoys copyright due to the creative results, which can be a natural person, a legal person, or in a few cases, the country. The Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China also stipulates that non-legal entities can also enjoy copyrights. From the perspective of natural persons, it includes professionals and amateurs engaged in scientific research, literary and artistic creation; adults, minors, and a small number of children who have created works (such as paintings, calligraphy, and performances). Copyright subjects can also be divided into individuals (independent works) and collectives (two or more authors working together). Among co-authors, some are a complete work, in which each component cannot exist independently, and all co-authors are the copyright owners; some are components that can exist separately (such as lyrics and music scores), and all co-authors or each component are The author may be the subject of copyright for the entire work or for the component parts of the work respectively. From the perspective of legal persons, as the subject of copyright there are editing and publishing units that edit collective works such as publications and dictionaries; there are also institutions that formulate writing plans, organize people to create and publish works in the name of legal persons. The subject of copyright can also be divided into original or inherited subjects. The former is a person who directly completes a work through creative activities and enjoys complete copyright rights including personal rights and property rights; the latter is a person who inherits copyright rights based on contract, inheritance, etc., and only enjoys partial copyright rights that include property rights.
The object of copyright is a certain objective form that expresses creative activities. It is creation first, not plagiarism. Secondly, the content of the work must be expressed in a certain form, including written forms (works, creations, translations, annotations, etc.); oral forms (speeches, reports, raps, etc.); other forms (music scores, paintings, calligraphy, sculptures, dances, etc.) , film, photography, video, graphics, etc.).
The creation, content and elimination of copyright. For most countries in the world, copyright arises based on the fact that the author creates the work, which is the "no formality doctrine". However, some countries stipulate that copyright can only be generated after the work has completed the registration procedures. The copyright enjoyed by the author can be divided into two aspects: personal rights and property rights: personal rights are enjoyed by the author throughout his life. After the author's death, his personal rights can be protected by the author's family or the person designated by the author's will. Personal rights include the right to publish, the right to authorize, and the right to maintain the integrity of the work. Property rights usually refer to the remuneration an author receives when others use his or her creative results in accordance with a contract (by publishing, performing, producing, broadcasting, etc.). It is mainly royalties, but may also include gifts of books, tickets, performance taxes, bonuses and other remunerations. The author of most works can enjoy property rights for life, and the heirs can enjoy the property rights for a number of years after the author's death. The legislation of various countries stipulates this range from 20 to 90 years, with most stipulating 50 years.
Copyright protection Copyright is protected by national laws. If plagiarism occurs, it should be regarded as an infringement. When copyright is infringed, the author can request through litigation procedures to eliminate the obstruction, restore personal honor, and compensate for property losses.
International protection of copyright In order to protect copyright from infringement abroad, a country can enjoy international protection by entering into treaties with other countries.
Conventions and Forms The earliest bilateral copyright agreement appeared in Western Europe in the early 19th century. In 1886, the first multilateral agreement, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, was signed. Since then, the importance of bilateral agreements has declined, but bilateral agreements are still widely concluded between non-party states and between contracting states and non-party states. Among multilateral agreements, the most influential ones are the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention signed in 1952 under the auspices of UNESCO. The provisions of the Berne Convention are relatively specific and detailed, stipulating that the copyright of works does not depend on any formalities; the protection period is also longer and has retroactive effect. The Universal Copyright Convention allows for formalities, stipulates a shorter protection period, and has no retroactive effect. The Berne Convention is mainly for Western European countries, while the Universal Copyright Convention is more universal.
There are other forms of international copyright protection: a country declares copyright protection for a foreign literary, scientific and artistic work based on the principle of reciprocity; a country declares unilateral and unconditional protection of foreign works. In addition, non-contracting countries to international copyright conventions can also use the "simultaneous publication" method to protect their national works in contracting countries. Most copyright agreements stipulate that works published simultaneously (for example, within 30 days) in a contracting country and a non-contracting country are regarded as works first published in a contracting country and are protected. Therefore, a country that has not participated in either the Berne Convention or the Universal Copyright Convention can use the above method to enjoy copyright in all member countries of the two conventions.
In addition, there are some regional and professional multilateral protection agreements.
Main principles ①The principle of "national treatment". That is, a contracting state protects the literary, scientific and artistic works of other contracting states as the works of its own nationals. This is now an almost universal principle in bilateral and multilateral agreements.
② A contracting country provides "country of origin treatment" to works of other contracting countries, that is, it provides these works with copyright protection equivalent to that given by the country where the author belongs or the country where the work was first published. Some Pan-American conventions have implemented this principle. ③A contracting country gives "third country treatment" to works of other contracting countries, that is, country A gives the works of country B the copyright enjoyed by works of country C. According to this principle, works by nationals of all contracting states enjoy equal copyright protection.
Copyright in Chinese Civil Law China’s Copyright Law was promulgated in September 1990 and came into effect on June 1, 1991. On May 30 of the same year, the National Copyright Administration issued the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Copyright Law" approved by the State Council; on June 4, the State Council issued the "Regulations on the Protection of Computer Software" to protect computer software copyrights and came into effect on October 1 of the same year. Prior to this, the General Principles of Civil Law had already provided principled provisions on copyright and its protection. In order to achieve international protection of copyright, China joined the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in 1992.
The content of copyright includes the following personal rights and property rights: ①Right of publication. That is, the right to decide whether a work should be made public. ②Right of signature. That is to say, the author’s identity and the right to sign the work. ③Right of modification. That is the right to modify or authorize others to modify the work. ④ Protect the integrity of the work. That is, the right to protect works from distortion and tampering. ⑤The right to use and receive remuneration. That is, the right to use the work by copying, performing, broadcasting, exhibiting, distributing, making films, television, videos, or adapting, translating, annotating, editing, etc.; and the right to license others to use the work in the above-mentioned ways, and to receive compensation for it.
Acquisition of copyright China's Copyright Law adopts the "no formality principle" and clearly stipulates that works by Chinese citizens, legal persons or unincorporated entities, regardless of whether they are published or not, enjoy copyright. Foreigners also enjoy copyright if their works are first published in China.
The protection period of copyright ①The protection period of the author’s right of signature, right of modification, and right to protect the integrity of the work is not limited. ② For a citizen’s work, the protection period for the right to publish, use and receive remuneration is for the life of the author and 50 years after the death, ending on December 31 of the 50th year after the author’s death; if it is a collaborative work, it will end at the end of The date of death is December 31, 50 years after the death of the author. ③For professional works owned by legal persons or unincorporated units, the copyright (excluding the right of authorship) is enjoyed by legal persons or unincorporated units. The protection period for the right to publish, use and receive remuneration is 50 years, ending on the third day after the work is first published. On December 31, 1950, if the work has not been published within 50 years since its creation, the copyright law will no longer protect it. ④The protection period for the right to publish, use and receive remuneration for film, television, video and photographic works is 50 years, ending on December 31 of the 50th year after the first publication of the work, but the work cannot be protected within 50 years after the completion of the work. Publication is no longer protected by copyright law.
Legal liability for copyright infringement is divided into two types: civil liability and administrative penalty liability. Among them, civil liability includes: stopping the infringement, eliminating the impact, making a public apology, compensating for losses, etc. Administrative penalty liability is imposed by the national copyright administrative department, including confiscation of illegal gains and fines.