The challenge of copyright enforcement in china's movie industry

Section VI: the upcoming Law of the PRC for promoting film industry

Finally, the upcoming Law of the PRC for promoting film industry should have a positive impact on enforcing copyrights. The Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council first issued explanatory notes on this upcoming law in 2011 stating that it will especially facilitate the entry into China's movie industry by erasing restriction «on the investment by social capital into film production».¹³⁸

133 SIPO, 2014 Promotion Plan, see above note 126.

134 Ibid, Section 3, Paragraph 28.

135 Ibid., Section 3, Paragraph 36: »Carry out active copyright supervision on large-scale online content suppliers, expand the supervision scope at appropriate time, refine the long-term working mechanism, further standardize the copyright order of online literature.»

136 Circular of the General Office of the State Council on Forwarding the Action Plan on the Further Implementation of the National IP Strategy (2014-2020) to Intellectual Property Offices and Other Departments, Article 2, Paragraph 2.

137 Ibid., Article 2, Paragraph 1.

138 Explanatory notes of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council on seeking public opinions on the Law of the PRC for promoting film industry, 2011, Section 2, Paragraph 1 (1).

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It also proposes to diminish administrative and approval procedures in order to serve the same goal.¹³⁹ Furthermore, the National People Congress of the PRC issued it first draft for comments on November 6, 2015. Before a translation to English becomes available, to make our opinion we can rely on commentaries made by China films lawyers. First, censorship standards will no longer be a problem for filmmakers if this upcoming Law enters into force. Indeed, movies dealing with «general» themes will not be subject to approval anymore.¹⁴⁰ Clarification concerning review standards will bring predictability: State authorities will have to elaborate these standards and make them available to the public.¹⁴¹ Further clarifications will certainly figure in the latest version of this law before it enters into effect. For the moment, these clarifications are already highly positive concerning the future of copyright enforcement in China.

139 Explanatory notes of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council on seeking public opinions on the Law of the PRC for promoting film industry, 2011, Section 2, Paragraph 1 (2).

140 China Film Insider, «China's Film Industry Promotion Law: the new draft » by Mathew Alderson and Grace

Yang, 10/11/2015, www.chinafilminsider.com/chinas-film-industry-promotion-law-the-new-draft/ (visited on the 17/11/2015).

141 Ibid.

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CONCLUSION

As it was demonstrated throughout this paper, the challenge of copyright protection in China results not from the lack of laws toward this protection but from the difficulties related to their enforcement. The complexity of this enforcement is related to issues that aren't only legal but also cultural, social, economical and political. Awareness at the State level but also at the local and individual level will help safeguard the copyright. Local protectionism should be fought effectively. The large size of China's territory is still an issue but thanks to the creation of specialized IP courts local enforcement of IPRs will be improved. Training programs for judges will also serve this goal. Bureaucratic agencies should also be more cooperative in order to strengthen copyright protection. Moreover, consumers must understand that if they don't purchase copyrighted works legally they expose themselves to serious penalties. At the State level, it should be understood that cracking down on piracy will help enhancing the whole Chinese legal system by showing that China stands for the rule of law. For instance, by fighting effectively against copyright infringement, China will be able to reduce the black market significantly. Also, legal consistency and judicial predictability will provide clarification and guidance. Indeed, clarifying legal terms will ease the burden of proof for right owners filling action against infringers. Moreover, an amendment of the Copyright Law is needed in order to include communication in real time to address better online infringement. The Copyright Law of the PRC should also expressly regulate illegal camcording. These improvements will help regulate more effectively the twenty-first century piracy. Moreover, all those ameliorations will help China to meet its international obligations, strengthening its international credibility. It will also permit a healthy development of its film industry, sustaining China's social and economic sectors. Chinese citizens will not only purchase copyrighted movies legally because of deterrent penalties, but also because this approach will benefit them. Indeed, it will help develop some industries so that more jobs will be created. Also, the development of domestic motion picture industry will provide Chinese audience with more movies and will contribute to the amelioration of their quality. Numerous reforms aiming toward an effective copyright protection were carried out by China in the recent years. One of them is the clarification of administrative enforcement; another is the clarification of criminal threshold. It appears also through the signature of the US-China Film Agreement. In any event, the most eagerly awaited law is the Promotion Film Industry Law that should enter into force during the next months. The future of China's movie copyright protection will highly depend on this upcoming law.

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