Study On Copyright In Web Page & Its Protection

The web page has become a center of discussion since it emerged as a popular form of on-line multi-media work together with the development of the internet technology. At the same time, many disputes concerning with the copyright of webpage have occurred at home and abroad. Under the principle of copyright law, a work will be protected by copyright when it is an original and copiable creation in art, literature and science. Generally, a web page consists of many original works and the content of the web page can be digitalized and stored in RMA. Thus, a web page can be the subject of copyright protection. However, China's law and administrative regulations provide no clear rules on the copyright protection of web pages, and this leads to serious problem. It is not clear that which type of work a web page is, and whether or not the principle of fair use applies to web pages. This thesis aims to examine the legal characters of web pages and the appropriate protection. The thesis is divided into 4 chapters:Chapter 1 discusses the essences of web page and the problems concerning the protection of web pages.Chapter 2 examines the concept of copyright and its application to the protection of web pages. This chapter also discusses the nature of a web page and its classification, arguing that a web page should be protected as a compilation, and the original titles of columns of the web page should also be protected by the copyright law. Chapter 3 examines the rightholders of the web page, contending that as a general rule the web site owner should own the copyright of a web page because the web page is similar to a cinematographic work in this context. However, the investors and the web site owner should be allowed to agree otherwise. Moreover, this chapter discusses the exercising of the right to a web page.Chapter 4 analyses the fair use of web page copyright. Fair use system is designed to balance the interest of the copyright owner spreader and the public. A web page is so different from traditional work that the rules should be adjusted to reflect the changes.