On The Subject Of The Right Of Folklore

The folklore is quite important for any society. As the national cultural tradition, the folklore, to a great extent, decides the direction of development of a country or a region.Since the 1950s, with the development of the developing countries and regions, the problem of folklore protection becomes increasingly prominent. On one hand, these countries and regions regard the folklore as the important culture resource with great potential value; on the other hand, they treat it as a bargaining chip when negotiating with developed countries and regions.China is a civilized country with a long history, and this multi-ethnic family has colorful folk arts. Recent years, with the continuous improvement of legal business, especially the instruction of intellectual property system, the folklore is gradually put on the agenda. For instant, Copyright Law of 1990 prescribes in text to protect the works of folklore. In addiction, Intangible Culture Heritage Act of this year even gives a comparative specification for the related issues. The series of the legislative achievements provide a solid foundation for us to discuss the legal protection of folklore.The protection of folklore involves many issues, such as about constitution, administrative law, civil law, intellectual property law, etc. Scholars have obtained relatively many achievements in this field. This paper will focus on the subjects of rights, based on these achievements.Besides the parts of introduction and conclusion, the paper is divided into five parts to discuss the subjects of rights of folklore.The first part is about the concept of folklore and the analysis of the related concepts. In order to research the right subjects of folklore, the first thing that should be done is to clear the connotation and the extension of folklore; the second is to clear the differences between folklore and the works in Copyright Law, the traditional knowledge, the intangible culture heritage, the products of culture, and the traditional arts and crafts, etc, so that the issue of right subjects of folklore can be better discussed.In the second part, through the analysis of Ussuriensis Chanty Case, the big problem that the legal protection of folklore is facing is proved to be the uncertainty of its right subjects. In the current legal framework, some legal texts in Constitution, Copyright Law, and Intangible Culture Heritage Act and so on, have more or less involved the protection of folklore, and each of them has its advantages.The third part, according to the current research level, shows the theories of right subjects of folklore, including state right saying, main groups saying and individual subject saying, etc. Based on the analysis about these theories, the general principles and the specific methods are raised to clear the right subjects of folklore. When the inheritor is known, the dominant position of the inheritor should be confirmed; when the inheritor is unknown, but the source group of folklore is clear, then the dominant position of the group should be confirmed; when both the inheritor and the source group are not clear, then the folklore belongs to the state.The fourth part is about the subjects of rights related to folklore. During the legal protection of folklore, besides the owner of folklore, some people, who have a close relationship with folklore, are involved, such as the inheritor, the collector, the collator, the disseminator, etc. From the view of protecting folklore, flourishing and sustainably using the folklore, the law can prescribe these important subjects related to folklore and their rights. Although they may not be the subjects of folklore rights, they, to a certain extent, play an important role in promoting the development of folklore.The fifth part is about the exercise ways of folklore. Besides the subject of rights exercises the rights alone, the exercise ways of folklore also contain acting as agent, collectively management. Only when the exercise ways are diversified, can the subjects'interest of rights be better protected.In this paper, the writer not only classifies and analyzes the folklore issues of subjects, but also consults some other people's views, and gives some opinions about some issues.