From May 20 to 21, the conference on soliciting opinions for amending the Measures for the Implementation of the Administrative Punishment for Copyright, which is sponsored by the SIPO and held by Shenzhen Municipal IP Administration (Copyright Administration), opens in Shenzhen. At the conference participants deeply discuss the Measures for the Implementation of the Administrative Punishment for Copyright (opinion soliciting version) drafted by SIPO and problems occurred in real law-enforcement work.

At the conference, related head of the Copyright Department of the National Copyright Administration notes that the emphases of the amendments of the Measures for the Implementation of the Administrative Punishment for Copyright include: First, two punishment categories of warning and instructing to revoke the license are newly added; second, the standards of handing over a case to judicial authorities is readjusted according to the judicial interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the threshold of administrative punishment for copyright infringement is lowered; third, the principle of application and jurisdiction of cracking down on internet piracy is clarified so as to facilitate law enforcers to conveniently, effectively and promptly investigate and collect evidences of internet right infringements and piracies.

The head of Shenzhen Municipal IP Administration briefs on the city’s work in copyright law enforcement and legislative protection. He notes that Shenzhen will issue the Provision of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone on Strengthening the Work of IPR Protection to intensify its work of IPR protection through legislation. Only strict protection can maintain right holders’ legal interests and encourage innovation.

As the subsidiary administrative regulations of the Copyright Law, the Measures for the Implementation of the Administrative Punishment for Copyright is formulated and promulgated by the National Copyright Administration on January 28, 1997, and is reformulated again and becomes effective on July 16. Since 2003, great changes have taken place in China in various social courses such as politics, economy, culture and science and technology, which have exerted great influences to China’s copyright legislation and administrative law enforcement. In 2005 and 2006, the State Council formulates and publicizes the Collective Management of Copyright Regulations and the Regulations on the Protection of the Right of Communication through Information Network in succession, setting up new administrative punishment categories and expanding the scope of administrative law enforcement for administrative departments. In 2004 and 2007, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate jointly formulate and issue the Interpretation (I and II) of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights in succession, which greatly reduce the threshold of criminal punishment for copyright infringement and put forward new requirements for administrative departments to hand over criminal cases to judicial authorities. Meanwhile, with the rapid development and wide application of digital technology and Internet technology, copyright law enforcement has been expanding from traditional areas to areas of new technologies. Facing new challenges, we should have corresponding measures.

The participants of the conference include representatives from the Supreme People’s Court, courts in Beijing, IP administrations in provinces and municipalities such as Zhejiang, Hunan, Fujian, Guangdong and Chongqing, police, procuratorate and court in Shenzhen, and academic and business circles of copyright area nationwide.