Research On Generalized Webcasting And The Improvement Of Copyright Law

With the rapid development of digital communication technologies,broadcasting through networks, or generalized webcasting, has become thenew way of distributing copyrighted works to the public. Webcastingorganizations are playing an increasingly important role in the digitalcontent service. As one of the representatives of the new media industry,webcasting industry is developing rapidly in the worldwide. Generalizedwebcasting includes simulcasting, narrow sense webcasting, andcontent-on-demand service. The modes of transmission include bothinteractive and non-interactive transmission. And the platform on whichthe communication happens is not limited to only internet. With theconvergence of the internet, the mobile telecommunication network and thecable network, to provide consumers with a comprehensive multimediacommunication service has become a general trend. These have all becomenew challenges against the traditional copyright law system. This paperwill systematically and comprehensively examine and explore the natureand characteristics of the generalized webcasting, classify it accordingwith the different modes of communication, and analyze the new challengesagainst the traditional copyright law system. Then this paper will elaborate the solutions the international community and other countrieshave put forward to respond to these challenges, in order to straightenout our thinking on how to improve the current legislation and institutionof China. This article is divided into four parts:The first part summarizes the developing process of the generalizedwebcasting, describes the various forms of existing webcasts, andclassifies them according to the different modes of transmission. Thenpoints out their prominent features compared to the traditionalbroadcasts.The second part describes the challenges of the new webcastingagainst traditional copyright legislation. Firstly, the traditionalright of broadcast cannot regulate all forms of generalized webcasting.Secondly, the right of retransmission of the broadcasting organizationscannot control simulcasting. Thirdly, whether or not should webcastingorganizations be entitled with the right of broadcasting organizationsis a controversial question.The third part firstly explains Article8of the WIPO CopyrightTreaty, which states that authors of literary and artistic works shallenjoy the exclusive right of authorizing any communication to the publicof their works, by wire or wireless means. In this case authors shall havecontrol over the use of their works in the webcasting. Secondly, the DraftBasic Proposal for the WIPO Treaty on the Protection of BroadcastingOrganizations is analyzed. The Draft attempts to make some new provisionsto cope with the digital age, especially the provisions on “webcasting”and “webcasting organizations”. However, due to the interest gamblingbetween countries, the Draft has been a great controversy.The last part focuses on the relevant provisions of China’s CopyrightLaw. The current provisions are defective and need to be improved to meetthe criteria of Article8of the WCT. And in March this year a new Draft Amendments to the Copyright Law was released. The Draft Amendments makessome efforts to address the above deficiencies.This Draft Amendments must first meet the standards of WCT, providingauthors with exclusive right over any communication to the public of theirworks by wire or wireless means. Then about the provisions on the Rightof Broadcasting Organizations, we need to consider the various factorsof our country’s public policy, the future development of informationindustry, and the “triple play” process and so on. China shouldparticipate in international discussions about this issue in a prudentmanner, and formulate internal copyright regime which can live up toChina’s national conditions, the needs of future development,international trends, and balanced interests at the same time.