IPR penetrates into public consciousness

China has been much criticized worldwide for its failure to offer full protection of intellectual property right (IPR), despite frequent government campaigns against piracy. What steps is China taking to protect IPR? Can copyright protection aid the growth of China's cultural industry? People's Daily Online (PO) interviewed Yan Xiaohong (Yan), deputy director of the General Administration of Press and Publication and deputy director of the National Copyright Administration, on these issues.

PO: Is piracy in China now worse than before?

Yan: It is a matter of judgment. Currently piracy, especially large-scale production and practices that violate others' rights, has been severely struck by the government.

However, there is still a certain gap between China and developed countries in the protection of IPR.
Currently IPR issues, particularly copyright issues, usually enter WTO proceedings as international disputes.

Meanwhile, we have made great achievements in the past 20 years. We have built a legal system which is linked with the world, and we have established a protection system for IPR with parallel judicial and administrative forces.

We have formed a copyright system equipped with parallel institutions which safeguard both the governmental and social interests of copyright holders, and ordinary people have become familiar with the concept of IPR protection.

For example, a few years ago it was still controversial whether karaoke bars should be charged IPR fees. But today both karaoke bars and business owners understand that this is necessary.

This only leaves the question of the charging method, which is still unresolved. We could say that the greatest achievement we have made in the past 20 years is that people are more aware of the necessity of IPR.

PO: How can we protect copyright in the Internet era?

Yan: Unauthorized use of others' works is still very rampant on the Internet. But as long as we are talking about network problems, I have to say that the problem is also quite severe in the US.

There is not a big gap between China and the US on this issue, which means that both developing and developed countries are facing copyright infringement and piracy issues on the Internet. According to a survey I once read, on a per capita basis, we have less piracy than the US and rank sixth worldwide. This survey was based on a 24-page report by the US Motion Picture Association.

Therefore, it is wrong to conclude that only China has a severe piracy issue and developed countries do not have the problem. However, we do believe that online piracy in China is quite serious and we need to address and solve the problem.

We believe that a work can only achieve its maximum value when disseminated widely. Based on this objective, the copyright system should adapt to industrial development while providing legal protection for dissemination. Users should respect others' rights rather than using unauthorized works.

PO: The "12th Five-Year Plan" (2011-16) includes the goal of promoting the cultural industry as a pillar industry for national economy, including a planned increase of its share of GDP from 2.5 percent to 5 to 6 percent. How do copyright issues affect the economy?

Yan: Copyright is strongly linked to the prosperity of the cultural industry. Copyrights are a kind of right arising after creation.

When industries were less developed, the uses of copyright were quite individual and limited. But after industrialization, the copyrighted works could have great cultural and economic values through using modern reproduction methods.

For example, today a book or a movie can be copied several million times and spread around the world.
Thus in our next steps of development, the culture industry has strong potential for growth.

During the financial crisis of the past two years, the development of culture was still very fast. It is a noble goal to develop the cultural industry as a pillar industry of the national economy during the "12th Five-Year Plan." And I believe that it is an achievable goal through effort.

During the development of the cultural industry, we should pay special attention to considering works as strategic resources, which are the fundamentals of cultural industry development. If the cultural industry is detached from copyright, it would be like making bricks without straw. The two are intrinsically linked.

PO: Now that the government has switched to using legitimate software, can this be understood as one of the measures of copyright protection? Are they acting as role models for the whole society?

Yan: I do not think the word "switch" is appropriate. The State Council has urged government departments to use legitimate software since 2001. The central government employees were required to use genuine software. This project was completed in 2003.

And during 2004-05, the State Council urged local governments to use legitimate software, a goal which was completed in 2005. So far, according to the statistics of the Government Offices Administration of the State Council, the total procurement of legitimate software has cost the central government 1.3 billion yuan ($197 million).

Therefore, the current project is only rectification. The reason is that we have large personnel changes in national ministries. Facilities and computers need to be upgraded. Some use legitimate software but it is uncertain whether some newly purchased software are genuine.

As a result, the rectification work of genuine government software should be carried out. Since we require the whole of society to use legitimate software, the government should first take the lead.

This is a demand by the State Council to all central and local governments. And it also has a deadline. Central ministries are required to finish rectification work by this May while local governments are required to finish by this October.

PO: There is a point of view that our engagement in copyright protection is causing trouble for Chinese manufacturing and is detrimental to the development of our society. How do you see the this progressing?

Yan: Further development cannot be built on the basis of resource consumption. China's per capita income is still ranked low by global standards. Our next step is to transform the mode of development.

We urgently need to change the mode of development, which cannot be achieved overnight. But we must realize that current growth model of manufacture is no longer sustainable.

In order to transfer from an unsustainable development model to a sustainable approach, we need to actively explore new areas and spaces under the prerequisite of stabilizing our processing advantages.

It is very important for us to apply new technology and make new growth in the new areas and spaces.
Branding can improve the price of quality products by 10 or 20 times. If we had our own brands, we could have the advantages of both manufacture and branding. It is wonderful for the country and ordinary people.

This is actually the road we should take. The internationally top brands are almost all European or American. We have very few. I believe there are 148 US brands among the 200 best brands in the world while China only has 18. The rest are mostly European and Japanese.

We need to both consider current situation and long-term national development and place our development on a scientific and sustainable context. Otherwise I think we are in a very dangerous position.