On 20th September, Yan Xiaohong, the vice-commissioner of China General Administration of Press and Publication (CGAPP) and National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC), attended the Legislation Meeting of the Folk Literature and Arts Copyright organized by NCAC in Beijing. The legal protection of the copyright of folk literary and arts, according to Mr. Yan, has already been listed in the legislation plan of the State Council and NCAC will actively promote the legislation process this year.

'The IPR protection has been given great attention from all circles of the society since the National IPR Protection Strategy has been implemented in China. However, we still need to do more in many fields, especially in the areas China has its own advantages, such as the folk literature and art, and traditional cultures,"Yan said. "For our national interests,we must take measures with specific focus on China's long-standing history and distinguished culture, to protect the copyright of China's folk literatures and arts by law basing on the country's situation." the official added.

Wang Ziqiang, the Director of the NCAC Copyright Protection Department, gave a brief introduction on the legislation work in the aspects of the system establishment and the legal practices. For the former, the Article 6 in the Copyright Law, carried out on 7th Sep. 1990 and put into effect in 1991, regulates that "the protection of copyright of folk literature and arts shall be established separately by the State Council." This regulation was still remained in the Law Amendment in 2001 so as to meet the requirement of improving the legal system of copyright. For the latter, it's necessary for us to offer the IPR protection to our rich folk literary and artistic resources with great potential values that formed in our long history and collected from our 56 ethnic groups. Moreover, more and more developing countries appeals to give greater attentions to IPR protection on folk literature and arts as the whole taking IPR protection more and more seriously..

Mr. Wang also indicated that the NCAC's initial draft of the Rule of Protection of the Copyright of Folk literature and arts in 1996 with the support from other state departments was affirmed by the World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO); the amendment of the Rule was finished soon after 2002. Later then, NCAC sponsored the seminars for seeking suggestions from all social circles in order to further complete the draft. At present, the protection of folk literature and arts copyright has been listed in the State's Council legislation plan.

In the meeting, 20 well-known law scholars, like Guo Shoukang, Wu Handong, Liu Chuantian, Wangbing, and Li Mingde as well as the representatives from the Legislation Office of the State Council, the Ministry of Culture, SIPO and China Society for the Study Folk literature and Art contributed their ideas on such topics as the legal coordination, the scopes of the protected IPR, the IPR holders and contents, exceptions and limitations, note writers and legal aids., which were included in the Articles for protecting the Copyright in works of Folk Literature and Arts drafted by NCAC.

2007-09-29

2007-09-29