A Study On Neighboring Rights Of Producers Of Phonogram In Digital Environment

Under the digital environment, copyright continue to develop along with the progress of digital technology. However, the related rights concerning producer of a phonogram does not keep pace. It is fully justified for producers of sound recordings in demanding the appropriate legal right of adjacency, as a disseminator of the "reinforcements", they have made outstanding contribution to the author, the public, audio-visual industry, and even to the whole copyright system. In recent years, the development of audio-visual industry in China has taken a turn for the worse gradually. After the comparative analysis, two reasons are found:the first is that producers of sound recordings have been obstructed in realizing the existing rights of reproduction, distribution rights, rental rights and the right of broadcasting information network; the second is that the due rights of producers of sound recordings have not been recognized by the law, which would undermine the fairness and justice and break the balance of interests. Today, the broadcasting organizations in China have advanced with an unprecedented speed after experiencing restructuring. Based on the combination with other geographical legislative experience and China's current national conditions, Copyright legislation should perfect the existing adjacent rights for producers of sound recordings and add the "Right to Remuneration for Broadcasting and Communication to the Public" immediately so that it can adapt to the digital environment and the global economic Integration.Organization of the Dissertation:Chapter 1 provides a detailed literature review on producers of sound recordings. In this chapter, the method of historical analysis is employed to discuss the adjacent right and its relationship with copyright. And then, the producer of a phonogram' importance to the author, the public (users) is discussed. Lastly, the philosophy of law, value, method of economic analysis are used to describe the theoretical basis of the sound recording producers' rights.Chapter 2 mainly discusses the current status and challenges faced by producers' adjacent rights. The paper analyzes and discusses the producers' four existing rights and the impacts they meet in the digital age. The challenges and the impacts come cross by the whole audio-visual field is empirically analyzed as well.Chapter 3 is about the analysis for the extra-territorial legislation. Comparative analysis is used to discuss the various rights of the producers of sound recordings regulated by different legal systems, international treaties, different countries and regions, from which we are told that the producers of sound recordings in China lack the "right to remuneration for broadcasting and communicating to the public".Chapter 4 gives suggestions to perfect neighboring rights for sound recording producers. This section is mainly discussed in two aspects; the first part aims to provide some strategies for the challenges faced by the existed rights in Chapter 2; the second part is to add "the right of remuneration for broadcasting and communication to the public", accompanied by the third section which describes the protection of sound recordings producers'neighboring rights so that a sound right system for audio production could be ultimately built.