Study On The Safe Harbor Rules And Suggestions For Improvement

Nowadays, as an important tool for people to communicate and acquire information, Internet has penetrated into every corner of the society, exerting great influence on both country and individual. While the scope and form of the internet service develop greatly, the problem of Network copyright infringement has also become increasingly serious. After2000, Network copyright infringement cases related to digital copyright swarmed into all levels of courts. To deal with the information transmission problems which are the side effects of the Internet development, our country has issued a series of laws and regulations in the sphere of Network copyright. However, due to the complexity of the behavior and form of Network copyright infringement cases, the present laws and regulations can still not meet the need of judicial practices. What’s worse, there are still a lot of controversies about the judicial application of many regulations. For example, many problems aroused with the application of safe harbor rules. This thesis starts with the origin of safe harbor rules, generalizing the realistic significance of it. Besides, through the analysis of No.22escape clause of information network transmission right protection Ordinance, the thesis finds out some defects of the legislative transplantation and Judicial practice of safe harbor rules and then offers some suggestions for improvement.Apart from the preface and conclusion, this thesis can be divided into5parts:Part one:the origin and value of safe harbor rules. Originating from American judicial practices, it has been settled down by the Congress in Digital Millennium Copyright Act after a series of judicial cases.Apart two:On the basis of DMCA, many organizations and countries like German, UN also lay down safe harbor rules which fit their own situations. The regulation promoted the development of Internet by balancing the interests of Internet service supplier, copyright owner and the general public. Meanwhile, it also helps to protect the intellectual property, achieving a win-win situation between technology and law.Part three:legislative situation in China. In this part, there is a brief introduction of the legislative situation about Network copyright protection in China. At present, the more inclusive law about safe harbor rules is information network transmission right protection Ordinance. Although there are some problems in the application of the Ordinance, it still plays a great role in the sphere of Network copyright protection.Part four:analysis of the application condition of safe harbor rules. Starting with the No.22clause and combining the relative cases, this thesis analyses the controversies in judicial practices such as "clearly marked","unchanged","knows or should know","acquire profits directly","inform-delete".Part five:suggestions about the safe harbor rules. Though the defects in legislative transplantation make it difficult to apply the regulation into judicial practices, we can not deny the value of the system. Through these problems, the author offers some suggestions such as improving the legal system, standardizing legal language, clarifying the infringement subject classification, defining the supervisory duties. It is believed that with the improvement in legislative thinking and related laws, the safe harbor rules would definitely play an increasing important role in our country.