Thesis On The Legislation And Solutions Of Corporate Works

The creation mode of works is undergoing a corresponding change with the development of the economy of the times. Previously simply relying on one person to complete the works can meet the reading needs. However with the fast development of the society this situation has been changed. Thus division of labor and cooperation emerged. The transition from the individual to social mode gave rise to corporate works. Considering the fact that China’s Copyright Law was born in a planned economy era and until now the planned economy has not been cleaned completely, the provisions of the corporate works of existing copyright law are still not mature enough and hysteresis despite significant changes of copyright law in2001. Being influenced by administrative leadership in planned economy we invented corporate works outside of duty works so as to ensure the interests of the unit by way of double insurance. Under these provisions, legal persons or other investors can become the author of works which is unusual in international practice. In the meantime this counters to "autonomy" which is a basic principle of traditional civil law.In theory, the distinction between corporate works and other related works is clear; however it is quite difficult to distinguish accurately in judicial practice. Conflicts of ownership of rights exist among different type of works. Constituent elements of corporate works and duty works are so similar with each other which cause difficulties to distinguish.According to national practice, works are classified by the way they are created. China is the same. In this way works are divided into natural person works, duty works, commissioned works, corporate works and the joint works. Among these, natural person works and joint works’ Intellectual input and financial investment are unified. It is this easy mode that rarely leads to disputes. For the rest three works, they have independent Intellectual input and financial investment. Also works are regarded as the crystallization of thought, wisdom and emotional sense of the author which should be protected by law. Unfortunately, China’s Copyright Law tends to protect legal unit rather than the real author. Considering the fact that corporate works are created by the staff members, so basically legal works belongs to duty works. It is regretful that China’s Copyright Law has made the opposite decision that the staff member enjoys the copyright of duty works however the copyright of corporate works goes to the legal unit. This has brought confusion and difficulties to the whole works system and judicial practice.In view of this, this article will focus on the theoretical controversy and practical difficulties of corporate works. I will also analyze the root cause of legislation issues on corporate works. The improving outline and concrete actions will be presented finally.