A Study Of Copyright Protection Of Song Dynasty And Its Modern Enlightenment

With the fast development of the culture of Song Dynasty, the improvement of printing has promoted the progress of book industry. The book industry and social culture experienced their unprecedented prosperity in Song Dynasty. It surpassed previous dynasty in terms of the collection of ancient books, the compilation of new works, the book publication and distribution, and so on. Consequently, copyright protection arose out of pirating.Today, we often read "All Rights Reserved" on pages of copyright notice. In fact, that is not the result of modern copyright protection but originated from Song Dynasty. Copyright protection in our country started from pre-Qin period but developed in Song Dynasty. Though it did not grow up in a systematic regime at that time, it paid more attention to the humanity protection, which promoted the development of society, demonstrated publishing policies and book market management. It had staked a claim in copyright of Chinese legal system, and it made a historic contribution to traditional printing publishing. Copyright protection of Song Dynasty came into being because of various factors. Economically, the development of commodity economy propelled the prosperity of book publishing. Politically, the royal court gave priority to spiritual pursuits instead of material arts, which promoted the flourish of the education industry and imperial examinations. Technically, the reformation of block printing supported the mass production in book trade. Objectively, serious pirating fuelled the development of copyright protection. As a result, the royal court combined personal protection and official relief to combat any kind of piracy and to protect publishers. The copyright protection of Song Dynasty regulated effectively the order of the book market and enhanced the quality of books. It not only protected the legal interest of publishers, but also safeguarded the benefits of readers. It promoted the popularity of books of good quality and awakened the awareness of promotion. People began to advocate authorised editions and resist piracy, which laid a solid foundation for copyright protection later. Since then, the tradition of combating piracy had been inherited and developed. Such a copyright protection was adopted by later generations. It has been a fine quality and distinct characteristics of traditional Chinese copyright protection.That copyright protection appeared in Song Dynasty is not accidental but inevitable. It came into being with the development of commodity economy and block printing. It flourished in the course of piracy combating. It protected the innovatory achievements in copyright protection and made a huge difference. Though it failed to form an integrated legal mechanism in Song Dynasty, the spirit of exploring how to protect copyright is precious. It not only contributes to maintaining rights, investigating printing, protecting copyright and cultivating awareness of copyright protection, but also provides some means of use for reference to applying copyright protection system and reformation.