| The sports industry of our country has entered its golden era due to the great deal of financial capital which is flooding in,the continuous innovation in communication technologies and the great support from government policies.Nowadays,athletic contests have transformed from pure competitions into mature commercial activities,and the live sports programs which make a big profit are examples.Live sports programs are perfectly protected by law in the developed countries and regions,but they can not receive the same legal protection in our country where they are developing rapidly.The piracies of live sports programs,which harm the legal advantages of the obligee can be seen everywhere on the Internet,but people have not reached an agreement on what the nature of live sports programs is,whether live sports programs should be protected by law and how to protect them by law yet.Therefore,this thesis will discuss issues like whether live sports programs can be defined as “work” according to Copyright Law and how to apply Copyright Law to cope with piracies on the Internet.Apart from Introduction and Conclusion,this thesis consists of four chapters,and the main content is as follows:The first chapter is an overview of the issues related to live sports programs.To begin with,different opinions of theorists and pragmatists about how to apply Copyright Law to the protection of legitimate interest of live sports programs will be stated.Three different voices can be heard from theorists: 1.live sports programs belong to “compilation work”;2.live sports programs belong to “cinematographic work”,and the piracies on the Internet should be regulated by “fallback right” of Copyright Law;3.live sports programs which belong to video recordings should be protected by neighboring right.The controversy among pragmatists also lies in that live sports programs should be defined as “work” or “product”.Different definition leads to different ways——making use of provisions about copyright,neighboring right or Anti-Unfair Competition Law ——to solve the problems.Next,the concept of live sports programs will be clarified by comparing it with other related concepts.Finally,the process of producing live sports programs will be introduced,and the author holds that live sports programs should be classified into “story” and “recording” according to the different ideas of producing them.In the second chapter,the nature of live sports programs will be talked.Based on the commonsense which has been talked above,through analysis and comparison,the author studies the originality of the two types of live sports programs,explores the significance of them in terms of copyright,and concludes that “story” belongs to film and “recording” belongs to video recording.In the third chapter,the predicaments of defending their rights the piracies on the Internet bring to producers and spreaders of the programs will be discussed.By interpreting the current laws of our country and analyzing international conventions,the author concludes there is no explicit provision that can regulate piracies on the Internet in our country.Although fallback right works in some cases,it is not legitimate enough to be widely applied,so related laws must be improved.In the last chapter,two approaches to improve related laws,responding and integrating,will be discussed.After comparison and research,the author finds the approach of responding costs less,but not proactive,and it is also not concise and logical enough,so its disadvantages outweigh its advantages,while the approach of integrating,which is in tune with current trends of legislation and our national conditions,revealing good interaction of legislation and technological advancement,is very promising.To conclude,live sports programs is urgently calling for the protection of laws.This thesis tries to explore ways to protect live sports programs under the framework of Copyright Law,and the author hopes it can make a little contribution to the development of the sports industry in our country. |
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