Information Network Transmission Right Legal Research

Since the late 1990s, the dramatic development of digitalinternet technology has brought people into the information society.The development of the information technology has made the worksspread more conveniently and quickly. However, it has also broughtalong difficulties and challenges for the protection of thecopyrights of the works. To adapt to the needs regarding theprotection of copyrights of the works on internet, on December 20th,1996, the World Intellectual Property Rights Organization enactedtwo Internet Treaties to confirm the authors' right to release theworks to the public. Thereafter, the United States and countries ofEuropean Union also enacted rules for the purpose of protecting theauthors' rights on their works disseminating on internet. To followthe trend of protection of intellectual properties rights, China hasincluded in the Law of Copyrights (amended 2001) relevant provisionsregarding the right of information network dissemination. However,the amended Law of Copyrights only has principle provisions on theright of information network dissemination. On July 1st, 2006, theRegulations for the Protection of the Right of Information NetworkDissemination came into force. These regulations provideimplementation rules for the protection of the right of informationnetwork dissemination. However, as far as the writer is concerned,certain issues remain unresolved.The writer of this article has conducted comprehensive researchon the basic theories and practical issues on the right of informationnetwork dissemination and come up with some thoughts with respectto the perfection of the legalization on the right of informationnetwork dissemination. This article is composed of four parts asfollows:PartⅠ: The Establishment of the Right of Information NetworkDissemination. In this part, the writer analyses the reasons for the appearance of the right of information network dissemination andpoints out the inevitability for the appearance of the right ofinformation network dissemination. Thereafter, the writerintroduces the legalization on the right of information networkdissemination in China and abroad as well.PartⅡ: The Analysis for the Basic Theory of the Right ofInformation Network Dissemination. First of all, with respect to theright owner of the right of information network dissemination, thewriter is of the opinion that failing to give the author the rightof information network dissemination may prevent the author fromclaiming for its copyrights but it is reasonable the radiobroadcasting stations and television stations not becoming the rightowners of the right of information network dissemination. As to thesubject of the right of information network dissemination, the writerconducts analysis on many new types of works, such as web page ofthe media and online interactive database. Secondly, the writerdiscusses the content of the right of information networkdissemination, such as the right of uploading, the right ofexhibition online and the right of downloading. Last of all, thewriter points out that the right of information networkdissemination should be deemed as a property right. The writer thenanalyses the characters of the right of information networkdissemination as differentiating from other properties rights of thecopyrights.PartⅢ: The Restriction of the Right of Information NetworkDissemination. In this part, the writer analyses the rules on thepermitted use and legal license in the Regulations for the Protectionof the Right of Information Network Dissemination. Having analyzedthe mandatory license and implied license, which have not beenincluded in the legalization of China, the writer concludes that theChinese legalization authority should enact rules on the mandatorylicense and the implied license should be subject to the regulation of the Contract Law.PartⅥ: The Innovation and Insufficiency of the Legalizationof the Right of Information Network Dissemination. The writerconcludes that the Regulations for the Protection of the Right ofInformation Network Dissemination provide in details the protectionof copyrights on internet and thus perfect the provisions of the Lawof Copyrights regarding the protection of copyrights. The enactmentand implementation of the Regulations for the Protection of the Rightof Information Network Dissemination should be considered as a hugeprogress for the legalization on the protection of copyrights oninternet. On the other hand, the writer also analyses theinsufficiencies of the Regulations for the Protection of the Rightof Information Network Dissemination and points out that detail rulesregarding the damages should be enacted. The writer also suggeststhat (ⅰ) relevant factors such as the mental damages of the victimand the damages of good will be considered when ascertaining theamount of damages; and (ⅱ) notarization of the evidence on net andthe effectiveness of the evidence on net be enacted.