The government has shown its determination to further boost intellectual property rights (IPR) protection by announcing on July 7 that unauthorized firms transmitting Olympic events will face stiff penalties.
“No website, mobile phone platform or individual is permitted to transmit audio and video information regarding the Beijing Olympic Games or events within the mainland without a copyright or copyright holders’ authorizations,” said Xu Chao, deputy director of the copyright management department of the National Copyright Administration of China, at a press conference in Beijing.
The government’s aim, said Zhang Tianan, vice president of the CCPIT Patent and Trademark Law Office, is, on the one hand, to fulfill their commitment to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the country will seriously work on the IP infringement issue before the Olympics begins. On the other hand, the government wants to emphasize the importance of IPR protection to the public.
As internet companies in China have been expanding rapidly in recent years, a lot of them are not aware of the rules of broadcasts rights. While the law might seem clear to lawyers, the public might not know anything about it, Zhang said.
“The rules about broadcast rights have been always in place. But the public just doesn’t have a clear concept about this kind of IP rights, so the government now needs to specifically emphasize and educate the public that anything related to infringement will be fined,” he said.
While the IOC has granted China Central Television and CCTV the TV broadcast and cable rights for the country, others will be banned if they do not delete content that qualified as infringing the rules, Xu said.
Pomoho.com was one of the few that the authorities have banned due to its illegal broadcast of Olympic events.
“It is important to impose strict penalties on illegal transmissions, because problems remain in intellectual property rights protection although many achievements have been made in the sector,” Xu said.
See also:
China, Franchising and the 2008 Olympics: Is the Time Right? 30 May 2008
China is now the largest franchise market in the world, and the 2008 Olympic Games has the potential to further expand this market. ... View this article
Ambushing China and the Olympics 01 Apr 2008
... There is no other international sporting event that gets more attention and attracts more participants and spectators than the Olympic Games. View this article