"The new revision of China's Copyright Law aims to better protect the interests and rights of domestic and foreign copyright owners and govern Internet infringement,'' said Shen Ren'gan, vice-director of the National Copyright Administration.

Approved by the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on October 27, the amendment of the law stipulates that rights of Internet authors shall be listed as an individual right.

Anyone who cancels or alters the author's works without permission shall be deemed as acting illegally while no permission shall be given to those who decipher encryption set by copyright owners.

As well as content involving high and new technology on the protection of copyright, other aspects of citizens' intellectual property rights (IPR) are also stressed in the amendment.

The most evident example is Clause 43 in the law.

According to the original clause, Chinese radio and television stations do not need to pay or ask for permission from authors, performers or producers when they broadcast or show musical pieces for non-commercial purposes. But the amendment means they now have to pay those authors.

"China's approaching entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has helped quicken the pace of intellectual property rights protection in the country,'' said Shen.

With rising public awareness of copyright, more and more cases involving infringements of copyright have been detected.

By the end of 1999, courts at various levels in China have heard and concluded a total of 30,091 cases on IPR -- including 3,411 involving copyright infringement.

The most notable ones were between the Music Copyright Society of China and Beijing's hotels and international chain stores in Beijing such as Ikea, McDonalds and KFC.

The first copyright fees of 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) for background music broadcast in hotel lobbies and restaurants in some 63 major hotels (3-star and above) were paid to the society in May.

The payment helped establish a legal precedent as well as inform people in general in China about the benefits of protection of intellectual property, said Xu Chao, a senior official at the copyright department of the administration.

China committed itself in the WTO negotiating process to bring its copyright regime into line with its substantive and enforcement obligations and to do so immediately upon accession.

"We believe China has commenced its efforts to meet this commitment,'' said Wang Huapeng, head of the copyright department of the administration.

Experts also expressed their confidence in China's ability.

Jiang Zhipei, deputy chief judge of the Intellectual Property Trial Chamber of the Supreme Court of China, recently said in his speech in the United States that China has established sound legal foundations for the protection of copyrights and neighboring rights.

As well as the Copyright Law, China signed three international copyright treaties.

China's trade-related intellectual property system has made further concrete improvements in copyright issues ahead of its imminent WTO entry, according to Shen.

(China Daily November 8, 2001)