A Study On The Statutory Licensing Of Copyright In The Network Context

As an important system under copyright, statutory license has been introduced and discussed in general Intellectual Property law materials. There also exist relevant international treaties which regulate it. But compared with license and fair use, statutory license is less valued. Owing to its limited scope of application and weak operability, few monographs have been published.The vigorous development of information network, which has greatly changed our life style, is impacting the current legal framework of copyright. The increasing demands for use in a network context highlight the function and advantage of statutory license which gradually attracts the attention of experts both from academia and legal practice area. On the fields of digital library, distance education and reprint and excerpt regarding works published on line, there have been regarding attempts, but dispute remains. The fact that there have been several amendments to and judicial interpretations of China's statutory license under copyright shows that consensus on this matter is not yet to be reached.Based on this phenomenon, this paper tries to elaborate the functional value of statutory license concerning creation, transmission and use, by using historical, comparative, positive and economical analysis in a network context. It also advances solutions to the theoretical and practical difficulties facing China's statutory license.Introduction: this paper introduces the functional value of statutory license regarding the solutions to the problem facing creation, transmission and use by sketching out the impact of internet and digital technology on traditional copyright system.PartⅠ: Theoretical base of statutory license. This part, from the perspectives of jurisprudence, social needs, economical effectiveness and balance of interests, expounds the necessity and legitimacy of the application of statutory license based on the analysis of definition, character and system valuePartⅡ: Practice of legislation. This part summarizes the characteristics, regular patterns and trends of statutory license of various countries based on the legislative analysis.PartⅢ: Application of statutory license in a network context. This part mainly focuses on the statutory license of network reproduction, digital library and distance education.PartⅣ: Perfection of China's statutory license. This part includes reservation clause, payment methods and infringement and remedy.Conclusion: network does not weaken the protection of copyright which follows the principle of balance of interests. China should enlarge the scope of application of statutory license, perfect the payment methods, increase the cost of infringement, lower protection cost, boost remedy, cultivate the awareness of IPR and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of creator, disseminator and user to better serve the legislative objective of knowledge innovation and communication.