Astudy On Fair Use Of Artworks In Outdoor Public Places

With the economy and culture of our society roaring ahead,the development ofartworks in outdoor public places changing swiftly, it is the success in the bid to host theBeijing Olympics in2008and the Shanghai Expo in2010that make communication andpromotion of artworks stepping into a new stage. Meanwhile, it is a significant issue toidentify fair use of artworks in outdoor public places considering artworks in outdoorpublic places have been infringed increasingly.From the horizon of Copyright Law, public character, as the special nature ofartworks in outdoor public places, influenced a lot on the interest balance of authors,transmitters and users.The use of artworks in outdoor public places brought the tilting ofinterest balance of traditional Copyright Law and the transition of legislative purpose.The copyright ownership changes from “individual ownership” to “public use”, thecopyright authorized mode changes from “all rights reserved” into “some rightsreserved”, the copyright interest balance changes from “protection of authors’ right” to“protection of public cultural benefit”. On the issue of the nature of fair use of artworksin outdoor public places, fair use of artworks in outdoor public places is the restriction onrights of copyright, meanwhile, anti-restriction on fair use is a crucial system which canreconcile the interest contradiction of authors, transmitters and users and reunify benefitsof them.Some appropriate adjustments have been made in theory and practice in order toface challenges in reality and achieve a balance of interests. The paper offers somesuggestions via the comparison of the international covenant and other countries’legislation on fair use of artworks in outdoor public places and the cases analysis on thelegislative defects and the judicial disadvantages.In addition,making recommendation forfair use system of artworks in outdoor public places in China. First, the legislative mode change from the enclosed type to the semi-enclosed type. Second, four factors should betaken into account when identify fair use of artworks in outdoor public places, includedthat considering the openness of artworks,the publicity of artworks and the related degreewith surroundings when we identify the degree of use, the identification of use purpose,the expansion of usage mode and the comprehensive consideration of all the factors.Third, some suggestions have been made for the third draft amendment of the ChineseCopyright Law (the third edition) via the theoretical analysis of fair use of artworks inoutdoor public places in China.