Research On Parallel Import Of Copyright

In recent years, with the development of economic integration, international trade becomes more frequent, and thus the issue of parallel imports in the field of copyright is gradually increasing, which makes this issue be a hot academic debate. In our current copyright laws, there aren't any rules about the issue of parallel imports. When it comes to the issue of parallel imports in the field of copyright, the judgments of court are diverse, because there are no related laws and regulations to follow. In this paper, it makes a more comprehensive analysis on this issue and puts forward its own legislative ideas, hoping to provide some valuable references and suggestions to address this issue.This article is divided into six parts:The first part focuses on the basic theory of parallel imports and compares three definitions of the parallel imports defined by the academic community. After my summing up the characteristics of parallel imports, the concept of parallel imports in the field of copyright is summarized as follows: copyright products that have the same content in more than two countries all obtain copyright protection, and then unauthorized importers import these copyright products which are from legitimate sources from one country to another for sale.The second part discusses the expressive form of parallel imports in the field of copyright. On the basis of results drawn in the past, according to whether the copyright belongs to the same person or not in the exporting country and importing country, the parallel imports will be divided into two kinds: the one belonging to the same copywriter and the one non-belonging to the same obligee in this article. Then it explores the reasons.The third part, absorbing and drawing the results of previous studies, mainly describes the nature of parallel imports in the field of copyright from the positive and negative aspects. The supportive theories of parallel imports include exhaustion of rights principle and the public interest; principle the oppositive theories include the principle of regionality and import right theory. But the author thinks that these theories have their own shortcomings, it is difficult to provide convincing persuasion for the legitimacy of parallel imports in field of copyright. On the issue of parallel imports in the field of copyright, we should not take the attitude of complete permission or total ban, but keep the principle of allowance and the exception of prohibition. Implied license theory, both principled and flexible, is more suitable to be introduced to copyright law to regulate the issue of parallel imports.The forth parts makes some comparisons between the parallel imports in the respective field of copyright, patent and trademark. There are not only many commonalities among the three ones, but also differences.The fifth part arranges the international conventions and the related legislation in foreign countries or regions about parallel imports of copyright. Their attitudes toward parallel imports are not only related with the degree of free trade in the country or region, but also with the scientific technology and economical and social development there.The sixth part makes an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of our parallel imports in the field of copyright from the macro and micro aspects at first. Then it puts forward its own ideas about the issue of parallel imports in the field of copyright from political and legislative aspects.