Research On Problems About Protecting The Copyright Of Film And Television Scripts

This paper introduces current situation in China of protection of film and television script copyright from the typical cases, and interprets the laws and regulations about protection of film and television script copyright. It makes a careful and detailed analysis of typical case with the copyright law together, compares the conservation status of film and television script copyright with that of the U.S., points out the deficiencies of China’s film and television script copyright protection. From analyzing the root of being difficult to protect China’s film and television script copyright effectively, it seeks way and countermeasures for the film and television script copyright protection.Zhang Yawen is a well-known writer and Chairman of Heilongjiang Province Writers Association. The copyright of her film script is still unable to be adequately protected, and she was engaged in the lawsuit for seven years, and she tried to obtain support in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests; in the second case, Wang Yi, as an ordinary playwright, in order to beg for royalties, was suffered life-threatening intimidation, and was sued to court. She finally win the lawsuit when obtained multi-support; at the same time, the U.S. screenwriters are on time-consuming strike to secure more benefits. These cases reflect the actuality of protection of the film and television script copyright and the incomplete protection system, and show that not only the famous writers, but also the ordinary playwright, from domestic to foreign countries, if we just rely on the strength of an individual, it is difficult to protect our own film and television script copyright.This paper combining with typical cases, makes analytic demonstration about the actuality of protection of the film and television script copyright, related copyright laws and regulations, the inadequacy in film and television script copyright protection system and other aspects; applies film screenwriter and law knowledge together, analyze the classification of the film and television scripts as well as the dividing-line between authorship and adapter, distinguishes the similarities and differences between author and adapter, confirms the ownership of the copyright of film and television scripts, in order to protect the film and television script copyright properly; the author got first-hand detailed and accurate information through visiting and discussing with screenwriter, adapter, producer, and other related personnel, knew more about the film industry, and had a deeper understanding of necessity and urgency to strengthen the protection of film and television script copyright.When collecting and analyzing a variety of documents about film and television script copyright as well as related cases, I found that the inability of the collective management in infancy about the copyright, no doubt is one of the reasons why the screenwriters’rights lag behind in China. In additional, both the imperfect way of administrating copyright and incomplete copyright legal system are the root of that it is difficult for the film and television script copyright to get effective protection.The awakening of the screenwriter to maintain their rights means that we should accelerate the pace of the legal system forward, enhance the protection mechanism of film and television script copyright, improve the way of copyright administration management, strengthen supervision and management functions of the copyright administrative organs; promote the development of copyright collective management mode, give full play to the copyright collective management organization role; create legal mechanisms to maintain originality keeping pace with the times, develop and improve laws and regulations about film and television script copyright, improve the compensation for mental loss in copyright law by repaying the royalties plus interest and other ways, increase the punishment for violating the film and television script copyright act, create a good legal environment for film and television script copyright protection, and promote film industry development healthily and orderly.