Globalization and new media require innovative ways of protecting intellectual property rights in China's cultural and creative businesses, said industry insiders at the sixth Forum on Chinese Ethnic Cultural Industry Development.
The forum was held on Dec 28 at Communication University of China in Beijing, the first time that it joined hands with a university.
The forum theme was international communication and the improvement of legal systems, and it attracted around 100 delegates, including scholars, lawyers, government officials and executives from cultural companies.
Wang Sixin, deputy dean of CUC's School of Politics and Law, told China Daily that the fast growth of the Internet "has damaged the foundation of traditional copyright theories". Increasing digitized distribution and duplication is challenging conventional protection models, he said.
"Just emphasizing protection blindly will not be a solution," he said. "We must also take into consideration the open nature of the Internet when making laws and regulations, and balance the interests of all sides, including the IP rights owners, the Internet companies and the Web users."
He also said that the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, approved by China's top legislature in April, serves as an international standard, thanks to which China will be able to "produce standardized products on a globally unified platform".
The treaty was signed by 48 member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization in Beijing in 2012, the first of its kind to be finalized in China.
"Chinese cultural products must be interpreted and protected in a way that agrees with international common practices, which is a challenge for Chinese cultural business," Wang said.
Cultural products include a wide range, such as games, movies, videos, literature, and tourism artifacts.
Professor Liu Xiaoying from CUC's Institute of Communication Studies suggested that Chinese cultural products find a balance between their ethnic nature and global acceptance.
"Understanding and learning from each other, people will avoid cultural conflicts, and the development of our cultural industry should go with this trend," he said.
Xiao Yandong, head of the strategic research center of domestic online game developer Perfect World, agreed with Liu. He said when the company bought copyright of an overseas work, they often add Chinese cultural elements to adapt it into a game.
But because of varied IP law systems in different countries and regions, a company must ready its IP deployment such as trademarks and copyright before unveiling a product in a market, said Xiao.
"When a product is launched, we must obey the local rules, and will invite our local partners as supervisors to avoid IP disputes," he said, adding that arbitration is a good resort rather than court rulings.
Perfect World was among 40 Chinese game developers that exported 177 products overseas in 2012, according to a report by the Publishers Association of China.
"A fair IP system provides a precondition of rational development of Chinese traditional cultural resources and a foundation for a robust growth of the cultural industry," said Cao Yisun, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law, in his address to the forum.
He called for optimized IP market rules for the cultural industry to make sure the market plays a dominant role in resources deployment. Meanwhile, he stressed the importance of government services and policies, as the cultural industry "is vulnerable and the market might fail".
Cao said that one of the current problems is that "people do not have strong resentment against IP violation". But with improved IP legislation, judiciary and enforcement mechanisms, people's awareness of IP protection will increase, he added.
Song Junsheng, lawyer of Beijing Anbo Law Firm, said that some decisions made by the government, and even the courts, in the cultural business were sometimes against the law, but the recently founded IP courts will improve professionalism in dealing with related cases.
A number of delegates called for innovation in protecting intangible cultural heritages, but Cao told China Daily that some heritage items have been "overprotected", while others are "under-protected".
"It makes sense to preserve something already dead in our memory as it was once part of our culture, but that does not mean we have to revitalize it," he explained. "We should respect the rule of cultural change."
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