It is the Spring Festival of another year, and since a few years ago, a large factory opened the "Set Five Blessings" activity, this activity seems to have gradually become a "new custom" of the contemporary Spring Festival. The successive addition of many platforms and the comparison of the prize pool have gradually filled this "philatelic" activity with a mysterious sense of ritual. This year's new "Lucky Shop" has become another new highlight of the Jifu campaign: users can use the Fuku Card to redeem their digital collections.
It is worth mentioning that the "Set Five Blessings" activity and 21 museums cooperate, users have the opportunity to obtain the museum's customized tiger cultural relics Fu card, and after collecting the Fu card, they can also exchange the excess Fu card for the tiger cultural relics digital collection.
But the event is refreshing and has also sparked a lot of legally relevant questions, whether museums have the right to cooperate with major factories to use their collections to cast digital collections? How to authorize compliance in practice? What are the particularities of the digital collection of cultural relics? Today, the sajie team will discuss related issues with you.
1. Who owns the cultural relics in the collection?
Before talking about whether museums have the right to grant digital collections in cooperation with major factories, we need to clarify a question: who owns (property rights) of the cultural relics in the collection? Because the property ownership (property right) of cultural relics as physical objects and the copyright of cultural relics are two completely different concepts.
According to the provisions of Article 5, Paragraph 4, Item 2 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics, cultural relics collected and kept by state-owned cultural relics collection units and other state organs, troops, state-owned enterprises, and public institutions belong to the state. There is no doubt that on the mainland, the ownership (property rights) of cultural relics as physical objects belongs to the state.
Therefore, the museum does not enjoy the ownership of the cultural relics in its collection, but as a state-owned cultural relics manager authorized by the state, it enjoys the right to reasonably use and manage the cultural relics in its collection in a way conducive to the protection and research of cultural relics.
2. The subject of copyright in the collection of cultural relics
According to the definition of a work in the Mainland Copyright Law, a work refers to an intellectual achievement that is original and can be expressed in a certain form in the field of literature, art and science. In this definition, the collection of cultural relics is of course the object of copyright, and the rights of their authors should be protected. However, due to the long history of cultural relics in the collection, its authors can no longer become the subject of rights. So who is the copyright subject of the cultural relics in the collection?
At present, in the process of developing and utilizing cultural relics, it is necessary to obtain permission from museums, does this mean that museums can replace the authors as the main body of cultural relics copyrights? The academic community's view of this is negative.
However, according to Article 15 of the Implementing Regulations of the Copyright Law of the Mainland, if no one inherits the copyright and no one receives a bequest, the personal rights of the author shall be protected by the copyright administrative department. It can be seen that the museum has the right to protect the copyright of cultural relics in the collection.
In recent years, as a high-quality cultural resource, the cultural relics in the collection have attracted attention from many parties. Revitalize such a large and rich collection of cultural relics resources, so that it in contemporary life to glow with new vitality and vitality, can create immeasurable economic value and cultural value.
However, the premise is to clarify the relationship between the museum and the cultural relics in the collection, so that the copyright of cultural relics can be enjoyed or managed by a special and clear subject, so that it can be effectively protected. Therefore, the author believes that in the case that the author of the cultural relics and his heirs are unknown, as the cultural relics manager authorized by the state, the museum can, to a certain extent, replace the original author's copyright and other rights in the collection of cultural relics, and carry out reasonable disposal and utilization.
3. Copyright authorization of collection resources
In September 2019, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage issued the "Guidelines for the Operation of Copyright, Trademark Rights and Brand Authorization of Museum Collection Resources (Trial)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"), which aims to stimulate the innovation vitality of museums, make good use of cultural relics resources in collections, promote museums to gradually open up and share cultural relics resource information, and standardize the authorization work related to the development of cultural and creative products in museums. The Guidelines stipulate the content of the authorization of collection resources, the authorization mode, the authorization process, and the rights and obligations.
Article 1 of Chapter 2 of the Guidelines stipulates: "The copyright rights of museum collection resources are: distribution rights, rental rights, exhibition rights, performance rights, screening rights, broadcasting rights, information network dissemination rights, filming rights, adaptation rights, translation rights, compilation rights, etc. The copyright of museum collection resources can be reflected in digital information resources with the characteristics of re-creation. Digital information resources include digital resources for the text introduction, images, videos, three-dimensional models, etc. of museum collections and museum buildings processed digitally, as well as all materials for in-depth excavation and sorting out of the cultural connotation of museum collections, cultural background related to collections, and cultural content of museums.
Museums can authorize the copyright of digital information resources with the characteristics of re-creation to the outside world and obtain relevant benefits. The commercial use of the museum's digital information resources includes, but is not limited to, publishing as the content of books, periodicals, picture books and other publications; disseminating the content of various websites and self-media; design and development of imitations of various degrees and forms of film and television, animation, games and videos; and design and development of various cultural and creative products and other derivatives. ”
Article 1 of Chapter 3 of the Guidelines stipulates: "Authorization is divided into direct authorization and entrusted authorization. Museums comprehensively assess the actual situation of their own collection resources, brand value, management and operation level, etc., and appropriately select direct authorization, entrusted authorization, etc., to authorize the copyright, trademark rights and brands of collection resources to safeguard their own rights and interests. ”
It can be seen that the authorization of the digital collection of cultural relics in the collection comes from the museum, and the production of the NFT and other digital collections of the cultural relics in the collection needs to obtain the consent and authorization of the museum to which it belongs. In practice, enterprises should clarify the types of authorization and authorized cultural relics in their cooperation agreements with major museums, and agree on the specific use methods of authorized cultural relics to prevent legal disputes.
According to the relevant contents of the Guidelines, the author believes that the copyright of cultural relics in the collection is actually exercised by the museum, and to some extent, it can be said that the Guidelines have regarded the museum as a legal subject that manages other rights such as the copyright of the cultural relics in the collection, and authorizes other subjects to exercise the copyright of cultural relics and other related rights.
Write at the end
In the context of the metaverse, digital collections, as a link in the economic system of the metacosmonic, have become a "place where soldiers must compete". This time, a large factory embedded a digital collection related section in the "Set Five Blessings" activity, which can vaguely reveal the future wind direction.
However, while fresh winds can blow opportunities, they are often accompanied by dangers. The "digital collection" of cultural relics in the collection can continuously stimulate the vitality of the museum and meet the needs of the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture. However, the rights disputes arising from this process should also be valued by many parties. Only under the premise of clarifying the type of rights, subjects, use methods and authorization chains can we help the prosperity and development of the metaverse.
That's all for today's sharing, thanks readers!