Research On Censorship For Cultural Products

Cultural Products do have dual nature with idea features and commercial aspects that distinguish them from other tradable goods and services. It serves a very important function in providing information to public and thereby in the formation of public opinion. They also have an educational purpose. All countries worldwide impose restrictive measures and censoring on cultural products for the reasons that its spreading will produce vital influence on nation’s public morality, value concept and public opinion even. The study analyzes the law systems and practice on censoring for obscene goods concerned between United States and China, and give the suggestions for China’s cultural products censorship.Chapter one reveals the definition and features for culture as well as its products. Then it points out just for cultural products’dual nature that visibly distinguish it from other tradable goods, for which the special protection was provided by WTO and UNESCO, a large number of countries take such measures as censoring and limitation for importing cultural goods. Then it explains the value and meaning for protection of cultural products.Chapter two simply construes the definition on censorship, and censoring models, goals, methods and characters under diverse regimes and nations, analyzes its necessity from the three aspects:maintain social order, the protection for national culture the historical inheritance. It takes the obscene goods’censoring as main object in the following writing, and introduces its meaning, censoring history and its harmfulness. Chapter three attempt to concludes the criterion and the definition for obscene and pornography goods based on law cases by America Federal Super Court, and reveals how the criterion is practiced in cases for books and films. This part attaches importance to the history, background on film censoring history as well as the rating system. Then it discusses the regulation and its characters.Chapter four illuminates the definition, criterion and punishment for obscene and pornography goods’ censoring in China practice, especially on books and films, makes out censoring procedures. It parses advantages and disadvantages on China’s active regulations, and put forward the advices on China’s censorship.Chapter five derives from China-Measures Affecting the Protection and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. It introduces the disputes the case is involved in, and explains the relationship between the cultural products and copyright protection from the point of view of obscene goods, lastly it briefly presents the regulation and practice on American copyright law combining with the cases which provides valuable reference for China’s copyright protection.Chapter six compares difference between American and China concerning their censorship on obscene and pornography goods, and make the suggestions for China’s regulation, meanwhile answers the questions put forward in the introduction part whether the alternative measures the American brought forward in the WT/DS363 are available for Chinese government.