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UM E-Theses Collection (澳門大學電子學位論文庫)

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Title

Reproduction rights and dissemination rights in digital environment and copyrights protection : legal issues and challenges

English Abstract

The copyright right law is reformed on the basis of the development of reproduction technology, as the reproduction right plays a vital role in the exclusive rights of copyrighted owners. The development of reproduction technology, such as in-line link, cache, thumbnails, P2P, browsing and etc, enhances the capability of private reproduction or personal use. At issue is whether those digital technology and operation of computer and internet have an increased potential to constitute prejudice to the copyrighted owners, in other words, will the acts of copyright infringement seriously increase. Upon the impact of digital technology, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) signed the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) in Geneva 1996. The two internet treaties establish a new framework for facing the challenges and contribute to the domestic legislation. Regarding to the act of reproduction, the developed countries are partial to protect the copyrighted holders. No matter permanent reproduction or temporary reproduction, almost all the acts of reproduction, the copyrighted holders are entitled to have the exclusive right. Oppositely, China Copyright Law does not mention the temporary reproduction or permanent reproduction, but only provide a new right of communication to the public. Besides, the acts of private reproduction are not forbidden in the new Regulation in respect to Copyright law. Hence, the traditional concept of private reproduction is directly applied to the digital environment, these acts of reproduction may seriously prejudice to the copyrighted holders. Stringent restrictions on users’ rights might give rise to monopoly of cultural industry. Abundant insist on exclusive rights of copyrighted holders might suffocate creative enthusiasms, such as fan art and fan creation. If the legislation is partial to the protection of copyrighted holders, the scope of private fair use is thus constrained. Traditionally, the private reproduction can be carried out in certain limit for non-commercial purpose without the permission of the owner. With the development of digital technology, user could easily reproduce the protected work which quality is almost the same as the original. In addition, with the development of the internet network, user could transmit copies to everywhere easily. The act of VI private reproduction involved prejudice and threat to the copyrighted holders. However, if the provision of scope of fair use is very severe, it may affect the balance mechanism of copyright and inconsistent with the preamble of WCT “Emphasizing the outstanding significance of copyright protection as an incentive for literary and artistic creation”. Hence, the conflict between protecting exclusive rights of copyrighted owners and advancing on the information exchange is a controversial topic and remains a difficult problem to the nations.

Issue date

2012.

Author

Kam, Ka Man

Faculty

Faculty of Law

Degree

LL.M.

Subject

Copyright

Copyright -- China

Copyright and electronic data processing -- China

Internet -- Law and legislation -- China

Supervisor

Ramaswamy Muruga Perumal

Files In This Item

TOC & Abstract

Full-text (Intranet only)

Location
1/F Zone C
Library URL
991000940579706306