Harry Potter and the issue of copyright
The
magic powers of boy wizard Harry Potter were apparently not enough
to prevent him from being pirated by the Internet in China, reports
Xinhua.
The issue has sparked
a national debate on ‘freedom’ and ‘copyright’ in
cyberspace.
The phenomenally
popular Harry Potter series published its fifth instalment, The
Order of the Phoenix, on June 21. The Beijing-based People’s
Literature Publishing House began its translation as soon as it got
the book’s copyright.
Some people, however,
put a Chinese version of the book on the Internet before its legal
debut, bringing huge losses to the publishing house.
Experts pointed out
that, both at home and abroad, the fight against the Internet piracy
is far from satisfactory.
Internet proponents,
on the other hand, hold that abundant information and convenient
access are the core attractions of the Internet over other kinds of
media, and too strict limits will restrain the free spread of
resources.
The Internet is
particularly popular among college students, who have access to a
campus-wide information system and a great deal of free services for
downloading software, films and music. Most of these services are
illegal.
"The Internet is
for sharing resources. Generally speaking, students have greater
demand for knowledge and information than other social groups, but
without a stable income, it is impossible for us to pay every
copyright," college student Luo Yongshan said.
An Internet writer
with the nickname of "ruffian dragon" said most people
post literature online simply because they want more people to read
it.
"Reading articles
online is just like borrowing books from a friend. Even if you have
a strong sense of copyright, you are unlikely to pay money to the
author."
Some disagree.
In February 2001, Wu
Weijie, who wrote an article, Rose in Dusk, went to the court
claiming that Rongshuxia Computer in Shanghai, China’s east
economic hub, infringed on his copyright, and asked for one yuan in
compensation.
The case ended with
the company’s open apology published on its homepage.
What Wu wanted,
experts said, was not money but his deserved rights. In fact, more
and more people have set out to protect their intellectual property
rights (IPR) through legal channels.
"Every year,
China’s courts accept around 5,000 to 6,000 cases involving IPR
and hundreds of them concern Internet IPR," said Jiang Peizhi,
presiding judge of the third civil judgment court of China’s
Supreme People’s Court.
Xu Jiali, the top
lawyer with Beijing’s L&A Law Firm, thinks that sharing
knowledge does not mean using it freely.
Most people have a
very weak sense of protecting their IPR on the Net, and most pirates
don’t realise that they have infringed on other’s rights.
"No country in
the world has found a proper solution to this problem," Xu
added.
Many Website operators
argued that there are tens of thousands of Websites in China,
involving millions of works of authors and musicians, so it is
unrealistic to sign contracts with them one by one.
On the other hand,
given the fact that no agreed charging standard on the Internet
works exists, individual authors may not want to bargain with
multiple users after each of their works is published online.
Experts suggested
establishing a kind of agent, issuing remuneration to those Net
writers who have applied as well as charging fees from Website
operators.
Luo Donchuan, deputy
presiding judge of the third civil judgment court of China’s
Supreme People’s Court, said that if wrong action happens from
using works on the Internet, the Website should be responsible for
it.
And to enhance healthy
development of the Internet, the problems concerning the Internet,
IPR must be closely studied and corresponding solutions worked out. —
IANS
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