A Study On Compulsory License System In Copyright Law

Since the reform and opening up, the legal protection of copyright in China has achieved remarkable success. However, there must be a reasonable limit about copyright protection. Particularly in the current background of information- based society, how to protect copyright becomes a thorny subject in which new problems arise every now and then. Copyright Law is aimed to better protect the benefits of copyright owners, but sometimes for their own sake, copyright owners may abuse their right to hinder the transmission of their works, prevent the use of counterparts and harm social public interests. In order to prevent the misuse of the copyright, exercise of the copyright must be control by corresponding legal. Our current copyright law has established intelligent use system and statutory license system. But have not made the corresponding provisions for compulsory licensing. Had to say this is China’s copyright system’s flaw. It doesn’t fully and completely reflect the purpose of the copyright system.About compulsory license, at special condition, the governor authorizes the applicants who apply the especial use of works that have been published. It is an “involuntary license system, one which accord reasonable restriction to the special use of copyright owners to meet the needs of social development. All of reasonable use、legal license and compulsory license are involuntary license system, while each one has their respective function. The function of compulsory license is to protect copyright owner’s economic right by compulsive license which could give them some restriction, to ensure the public get to works and use them, to accelerate the development of economic、politic、science and culture.Beginning with the concept of copyright compulsory license system, this thesis displays the writer’s opinion on the concept, features, basic principles of copyright compulsory license system and the comparisons of relevant theories. It also introduces the current situation of compulsory license system abroad, analyzes the necessity that compulsory licensing should be definitely included in Chinese copyright laws and presents the writer’s deep thought about copyright compulsory license system in our country. Advices on how to perfect compulsory license system in Chinese legislation are put forward from the aspects of the applicable, conditions, competent authorities, application procedures, compensation standards, scope of application, administrative discretion’s boundary, relief mechanism and so on.