Research On Copyright Transfer System

The system of copyright transfer is an important part of copyright legislation inmany countries. In China, the system had not been regulated in copyright law until2001. This dissertation conducts a basic research on the fundamentals of copyrighttransfer, including it's concept, nature and contents. Particularly, on the basis ofanalyzing the difficult problems in the practice of copyright transfer, the dissertationmakes some legislative suggestions for the purpose of further improving the system ofcopyright transfer in China. The dissertation includes five parts. The first part defines the concept of copyrighttransfer and clarifies the differences between copyright transfer and other relevantconcepts, such as "tangible property transfer", "licensed use" and so on. The second part introduces the difference of philosophy basis in copyrightlegislation between common law and civil law system. In this part, the author analyzesthe different views on the nature of copyright in common law system and civil lawsystem. The thesis also reviews the five theories on the nature of copyright from thehistoric development of copyright law. The five theories are as follows: the doctrine ofspiritual ownership, the doctrine of absolute personal right, the doctrine of intangibleproperty right, dualism and monism. Some of them are still applied in westerncountries' copyright law. In the third part, the thesis discusses the contents of copyright transfer. This partfocuses on legislation in civil law countries such as France, Germany and Japan and onlegislation in common law countries such as the United States and the UK. Thesecontents include substantial conditions, formal conditions and other limitations. In thispart, the author also analyzes the establishment of copyright transfer system in ourcountry. The fourth part mainly discussed how to coordinate between the economic right ofcopyright, which is transferred after an assignment, and the spiritual right of copyright,which is permanently in the hands of the author. In this part, the thesis suggests thatthe legislation should make some restrictions on the author's spiritual right for thepurpose of protecting the assignee. The last part focuses on the issue of how to perfect the system of copyright transferin China. The author analyzes the deficiencies of the copyright law before amendmentcaused by lack of the system of copyright transfer, and the remaining imperfect aspectsafter amendment in 2001. On the basis of these analyses, some suggestions are givenon how to improve copyright transfer system in China.