Revolution And Reconstruction Of Broadcasting Organizations’ Rights In The New Technology Age

Broadcasting organizations’ rights system is an important component in the system of protection of neighboring rights,meanwhile,it is also the sound guarantee of the development of radio and television industry.The rapid development of internet technology,digital technology and broadcast communication technology have facilitated people’s access to information as well as put forward many new topics for the international intellectual property system.In the face of increasingly rampant and diversified signal piracy,the traditional system of international protection of broadcasting rights based on the "Rome Convention" and the protection of the rights of broadcasting organizations in domestic copyright legislation have made it hard to deal with the flood of piracy of signals of the new technological age,the protection of the rights of broadcasting organizations need to be improved urgently.At the same time,the development of new technologies has changed the way of creation and dissemination of works.It also sets new requirements on the definitions,subject,object,content of rights,restrictions of rights and other related issues concerning the rights of broadcasting organizations.The rights of broadcasting organizations under the digital environment has increasingly become a hot and difficult issue in the study of international intellectual property.The Broadcasting Treaty aims on the improvement of protecting the rights of broadcasting organizations will come into force in the near future.From the point of view of our country,in the age of new technologies that the internet has become mainstream,the living environment of the traditional broadcasting organizations in our country have been facing great challenges.At present,our country is actively promoting the third revision of the Copyright Law,and the relevant provisions of the broadcasting organization rights have not been agreed after repeated censorship.Therefore,at the critical juncture of ending the international treaties and domestic legislation,it is urgent to fully rethink and improve the broadcasting rights system so as to respond to the challenges posed by the new technology era,and also provide theoretical support for participating in the Broadcasting Treaty and the revision of"Copyright Law".This article begins with the historical investigation and current situation of the system of broadcasting organizations’rights.Firstly,it examines the history of broadcasting technology from the perspective of vertical and horizontal dimensions and the accompanying system of broadcasting organizations’ right.Comparing the international treaties,regional agreements and the legislations in different countries on the protection of the rights of broadcasting organizations,leading out the difficulties and reflections in the practice of rights of broadcasting organizations at present.After that,it focuses on the new challenges that the broadcasting organizations’ right system faces under new technological conditions and explores the problems in the protection of broadcasting organizations in our country and abroad.Then combining with the controversies and points of view in the formulation of international treaties,the paper analyzes the problems that the broadcasting organizations’ right system faces in the new technological era and puts forward some principle solutions to the problem solving.Finally,it settles in the practices of China’s broadcasting technology and broadcasting organizations’ rights protection system,analyzes the necessity of reshaping the broadcasting organizations’ rights system in our country,summarizes the deficiencies of copyright and related legislation in our country,and puts forward the specific plan of the protection and remodeling of the rights of our broadcasting organizations.This article includes eight chapters besides the introduction and conclusion,the main contents are as follows:The first chapter mainly narrates the development of broadcasting organizations’ rights system in the process of technological change from the vertical dimension.Radio technology started with the discovery of radio waves in the early 19th century.After that,the system of broadcasting organizations’rights protection began to sprout.The Rome Convention established the original model of the international protection of neighboring rights.With the progress of technology,the cable broadcasting technology and the satellite broadcasting technology boarded the historical arena,they made up for the shortcomings of the low quality and the coverage of the wireless transmission signal,and have gradually became the main mode of broadcast transmission.At the same time,the system of broadcasting organizations’ rights system got further expanding.Entering in the 20th century,the emergence and prosperity of the internet have brought drastic changes in the development of radio.Under the new technical conditions,the international protection of broadcasting organizations’ rights facing challenges and in urgent need of reform.Chapter two examines mainly international treaties,regional agreements and different models of the protection of broadcasting organizations in typical countries from a horizontal dimension.Based on the different recognition of the originality of copyright protection objects,common law and civil law systems respectively adopt different modes of copyright and neighboring rights protection.Therefore,the protection of the rights of broadcasting organizations in major countries in the world are also different.In the framework of international treaties,the rights of broadcasting organizations exists in"Rome Convention","Satellite Convention" and "TRIPS Agreement",but the provisions of the conventions and agreements lag behind the development of broadcasting technology.As a solution,the proposed "Broadcasting Treaty" responds to the need for technological development and greatly expands the rights of broadcasting organizations.In the context of regional agreements,the terms of broadcasting organizations’ rights are tools for the benefits of their national broadcasting organizations.In the two major legal system countries,the rights subject,object,content and other provisions of broadcasting organization rights under different legislative modes are different.Due to the different degrees of economic and technological development,the level of protection of broadcasting organizations in different countries are also different,which affects the formulation process of the WIPO Broadcasting Treaty.The third chapter focuses on the new challenges faced by the broadcasting organizations’ rights system in the new technology.The development of technology has changed the mode of transmission of works and put forward new requirements on the definitions,subject,object,content of rights,restriction of rights and other related issues of broadcasting organizations’rights.The extension and connotation of the subject of the broadcasting organizations’rights are lagging behind and need to be clearly defined.The object of the broadcasting organizations’rights has not yet been reached consensus at the international level and remains to be clarified.The rights of the broadcasting organizations are narrow,under the new technical conditions,the phenomenon of signal piracy has far more than the traditional wireless and wire means.Rich forms of signal piracy emerged,making the current system of broadcasting organizations’rights play no significant role.What’s more,the restrictions of rights,the technological measures and the right management information protection should be included in the scope of improving broadcasting organizations’rights system.The fourth chapter to the seventh chapter are responds to the questions of chapter three,it is demonstrations of reshaping the subject,object,right contents and other related issues of the broadcasting organizations’ right.Aiming at the shortcomings of subject,object,right content and other related provisions of the broadcasting organizations’ rights system in the new technology era,this article argues about the legitimacy and necessity of reshaping the broadcasting organizations’ rights system through the analysis of the relevant provisions of the core text of the "Broadcasting Treaty " and the conclusion of different views of the SCCR major delegations.Combining the basic conditions of the development of China’s radio and television industry,put forward China’s basic position in the follow-up negotiations on the Broadcasting Treaty as follows:Firstly,the treaty should clearly define the concept of broadcasting organizations,and it should include the broadcasting organizations whose broadcast transmitted both through the traditional radio station and the internet.Secondly,the treaty should clarify the object of broadcasting organizations’ right,it must be made clear that the broadcast programs are the object broadcasting organizations’right.Thirdly,the treaty should improve the contents of the rights of broadcasting organizations’ right,in view of the illegal spread via internet,the treaty should expand the scope of the existing rights and add new rights;Finally,while adding rights,the treaty must also set appropriate limits on the rights,such as perfecting fair use terms and term of protection terms.In addition,the technical measures and rights management information of broadcasting organizations should be protected with special provisions to ensure their effectiveness.However,Considering the need to protect public access to information and encouraging technological innovation,the treaty should provide exceptions for the protection of technical measures and rights management information.Chapter eight is a reversion to the system of broadcasting organizations’right in China.Our Current system of "copyright law" protection exists many defects such as the narrow subject and object of broadcasting organizations’ right,the lack of the rights and some other issues,these defects lead to lots of problems in authorization and protection of their rights for broadcasting organizations,which influencing their enthusiasm in spreading cultural products.Therefore,in the third modification of "copyright law",it’s important to reshape China’s broadcasting organization right system.From a macro point of view,our country practices should be pay enough attentions to the protection of broadcasting organizations’right.On one hand,we should stick to both the principle of social and public interests and the principle of encourage technology progress,on the other hand,we must balance the international vision and local care.Based on the above premises,improving the subject,object,right contents and limitation of broadcasting organizations’right,what’s more,developing the clauses in protection technical measures and rights management information.In terms of the specific design of the micro-structure,it is appropriate to replace "radio station" and "TV station" with "broadcasting organizations";Authoring rebroadcasting right including rebroadcast through the intemet,and keep the fixation right and copy right,adding the right of transmission on network,right of communication to the public;Increasing the fair use clauses of the broadcasting organization’s rights and increasing the protection of technical measures and rights management information.In addition,in order to reduce the controversies in the application of broadcasting organization’s rights,it is recommended to increase the definitions of"broadcasting","broadcasting organizations","signal",rebroadcast" in the" Regulations for the Implementation of the Copyright"."It was the best of times,it was the worst of times",as the famous British writer Charles Dickens said,Technological progress is also a double-edged sword,which brings infinite opportunities to the development of radio and TV industry,but also brings unprecedented challenges to the effective operation of broadcasting organization’s right system.With the rise of the internet technology and digital technology,illegal dissemination over network greatly impacting the signal transmitting order which broadcasting organizations have established.Because of the lack of international treaties and domestic legislation in broadcasting organization’s right,it is difficult for broadcasting organizations to play against signal piracy.We should rebuild the broadcasting organization’s right system with the opportunity in broadcasting treaty and revision of our Copyright Law.