The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, had a panel discussion Tuesday on draft amendments to the copyright law and the trademark law. Participants proposed that some articles of the amendments be revised to better protect the legitimate rights of the owners of intellectual property.

Gu Jinchi, vice-chairman of the NPC Committee for Internal and Judicial Affairs, said that with China's impending entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), amending the laws on intellectual property protection should aim to align them with the rules of the WTO.

Gu Jianfen, a famous composer and a member of the NPC Standing Committee, proposed that the permission right of the author be respected when a work is broadcast or published, citing some examples that her works are often broadcast or even massively revised without her permission.

Xu Jialu, vice-chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, held that laws on intellectual property protection should respect and encourage creativity to facilitate the development of science and culture.

Xu pointed out that currently international rules are resorted to in cases involving foreigners while in cases only concerning Chinese citizens, domestic laws are taken into account. The situation has to be changed and revision of the laws should aim to set a universal rule governing both Chinese citizen and foreigners in terms of intellectual property protection.

(Xinhua 12/27/2000)