Comparative Study Of Chinese And American Copyright Law Systems In The Digital Environment

With the arrival of digital age, the reform and development of copyright legal systems in the world usher in a period of unprecedented growth, a new round of copyright legislation and amendment is carried out vigorously. Along with the development of technology, copyright expands in a large scale during this period, copyright protection and copyright restriction established on which has also been associated closely. From the perspective of balance of interests, which is the legislative idea and ultimate goal of copyright laws, the copyright protection and copyright restriction cannot be neglected. They are not only in the eternal conflict, but also in the dynamic balance. In face of the ever-expanding copyrights in digital environment, the legislation follows the pace of technology progress to adjust the balance of copyright protection and copyright restriction constantly.In terms of China, by following the example of the West and adopting international practice, we have achieved remarkable results at the early stage of copyright legal system construction. But we started relatively late in the digital environment, confronted with of many new problems of copyright protection in reality, it is important and urgent to build and perfect the legal system. The United States began to focus on the changes in copyright legal system in the digital environment since the middle of1990s, they established and amended copyright laws actively which promoted the effectiveness of copyright protection and the development of the copyright industry effectively."By other's faults, wise men correct their own ","lessons learned from the past can guide one in the future ", it is necessary to compare the copyright laws of our country and the United States systematically, and analyze the two countries'differences in the expansion of copyright, copyright protection and copyright restriction. Only the reference and criticism establishing on the basis of learning and understanding the different copyright legal systems are more scientific, and via this we can bring more benefits to the development of our copyright industry in the digital environment.Specifically, the article includes a total of seven chapters involving with introduction. The main content and structure are as follows:The first chapter is the introduction. This section presents the theoretical and practical significance of the comparative study in copyright legal systems of China and United States in the digital environment, tease out the domestic and foreign academic research which has been done on the relevant aspects, then introduce the basic ideas and the main contents of this article, and describe study methods used in the research.The second chapter is the copyright and copyright legal system in the digital environment. This is the theoretical foundation and research platform of this article. In the section of "the connotation and character of copyright in the digital environment", firstly, defines and study the basic concepts, then points out that there are no significant differences between "copyright in the digital environment" and "traditional copyright". In spite of it, they exhibit some unique characteristics because of the different environment. Finally explores that copyright in the digital environment is just a privilege rather than natural right, consisting of economic right and moral right. In the section of "Copyright law system in the digital environment", points out that the spirit of interest balance and institution structure of copyright law system in the digital environment face challenge which brought by technological advances, and as a result of that, copyright laws are amended in the world. Finally, introduce the overall situation of copyright law system in China and the United Stated, providing a starting point to the further logical analysis in this article.The third chapter is the comparison of copyright expansion between China and the United States in the digital environment. This section first considers that copyright has been expanded from the birth date and analyzes the motivation of this expanding, then introduces the representations of expanding on copyright in the digital environment. This is common in China and United States' copyright law systems and in this part the main job is to find similarities among the differences from both. After comparison of copyright protection period, the United States works are protected longer than Chinese, and the trend is inclined to strength. After comparison of the object of copyright, finds that both of the two countries expand in this aspect extremely, and as a result of this expansion, the copyright system has been cluttered increasingly. The comparison on the content of copyright in digital environment is outspreaded from two aspects(the reform of traditional copyright and the expansion of new copyright), then finds that the two countries have shown some significant or subtle differences in traditional copyright and new copyright in the digital environment, the former consists of moral rights and economic rights which takes the right of reproduce as representation, and the latter is represented by the right of communication through information network.The fourth chapter is the comparison of copyright restriction between China and the United States in the digital environment. As to the legitimacy of copyright restriction, the balance of interests is its foundation, fairness and justice is its value connotation, utility maximization is its value goal. And then briefly describes the types of copyright restrictions. In terms of fair use, a series of new problems of copyright protection come one after another in the digital environment which take fair use system in serious challenge. Then compares the fair use system between China and the United States from the aspects of the purpose of legislation, the criterion for judgment and the legislative mode. In terms of non-voluntary license, its value should play better in the digital environment. The type of non-voluntary license in both China and the United States is statutory license, the compares the statutory license scope and fee systems of the two countries. In the final of this chapter, the exceptions to the circumvention of technological protection measures, the copyright owner's obligations when use those measures and their liabilities of abuse are compared.The fifth chapter is the comparison of copyright protection between China and the United States in the digital environment. The first part compares the direct copyright infringement systems of the two countries and finds out that they have different cut-in points. As far as the non-direct infringement on copyright, the United States formed a system of indirect infringement liability, and our country only has joint infringement which is similar to but not entirely consistent with indirect infringement. The second part compares the tort imputation principle of copyright infringement in two countries and finds out that fault liability is applied in direct infringement in the United States whereas liability without fault applies to direct infringement in out country. Meanwhile, the United States apply the principle of fault liability for indirect copyright infringement, but China has not yet established a sound "indirect responsibility" system, in this condition, fault liability is suitable for only a small number of persons such as internet service providers'indirect infringement. After that, the "safe harbor" rule is compared, although China's "safe harbor" rule is transplanted from the United States, there are some differences between the m. The third part is more about copyright relief system. Due to the different legal systems, the two countries have different patterns in relief. Afterwards the public remedy and private remedy of copyright in China and the United States are compared.The sixth Chapter is the conclusions and thinking of the comparison of copyright law between China and the United States. There are some similarities in the two counties' copyright law, but because of the different legal systems, different legislative systems, different maturity of copyright industries and different legislative techniques, there is a big difference between the two in the content. Not only that, there are some differences in the balance of interests mental and implementation. And then analyzes the portability of United States' copyright law in the digital environment and China's admission space to transplant that copyright law system, afterwards makes rational considerations on how to transplant the United States' copyright law from the point of view of safeguarding the China's national interests. On this basis, puts forward the idea of the building copyright legal system in the digital environment from the concept and operational level.Chapter seventh is the conclusion. This part is a review and summary of the research.