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Media Watch | What are the new opportunities and challenges in the field of copyright? The meeting touched on these three points

Media Watch | What are the new opportunities and challenges in the field of copyright? The meeting touched on these three points

The scene of the forum on "Strengthening the Use and Protection of Copyright and Promoting the High-quality Development of the Industry".

With the rapid development of cutting-edge technologies such as generative AI, the copyright field is facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges. In the context of new development, how to strengthen the creation, application, protection, management and service of copyright has become an important issue.

Recently, the 13th China Intellectual Property Annual Conference "Strengthening the Use and Protection of Copyright and Promoting the High-quality Development of the Industry" forum was held in Beijing. The guests gathered together to discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by the copyright field in the era of digital economy, and contribute to the high-quality development of the copyright industry in mainland China.

Technological innovation

Copyright protection faces multiple challenges

In recent years, the mainland's copyright industry has shown a strong momentum of development: in 2022, the added value of the copyright industry reached 8.97 trillion yuan, accounting for 7.41% of GDP; In 2023, the total number of copyright registrations will exceed 8.92 million, a year-on-year increase of 40.46%......

In his speech, Liu Chao, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Intellectual Property Publishing House, affirmed the key role of copyright protection in stimulating the innovation vitality of the whole society and improving the modern economic system. However, with the continuous development of technologies such as generative AI, copyright protection also faces new challenges. Liu Chao believes that it is necessary to start from the national strategic height and the requirements of entering a new stage of development, improve the level of rule of law in copyright protection, stimulate the innovation vitality of the whole society, open up the whole chain of copyright creation, application, protection, management and service, and continuously promote the modernization of copyright governance system and governance capacity.

Guo He, vice president of the Chinese Character Copyright Association and professor at Chinese University, said that the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology has greatly enriched the form of cultural products, expanded the boundaries of creation, and improved the efficiency of the dissemination of works. However, this change has also made infringement more insidious and complex, bringing new challenges to relevant regulations and policies. How to strike a balance between the promotion of innovation and the protection of rights has become a problem that the copyright community must face.

"Copyright protection is not only a right of creators, but also a need for national development. Only by strengthening the use and protection of copyright can we truly promote the high-quality development of the industry. Zhang Hongzhen, deputy director of the Publishing and Media Committee of the Central Committee for Promoting Democracy, said that every major breakthrough in science and technology and profound changes in the industry are based on the accumulation and breakthrough of knowledge, whether it is the birth of the steam engine, the wide application of electricity, or the rapid evolution of information technology, behind which are condensed countless scientists on the depth of knowledge and innovation. But without copyright protection, these intellectual innovations would not be able to continue and develop.

"While fully aware of the significance of copyright, we must also be clear about the dilemma facing current developments. The challenges of copyright in the digital age, the difficulties of international cooperation in copyright protection, and the weak public awareness of copyright will all become the key factors restricting the healthy development of the copyright industry. Zhang Hongzhen said.

Balancing interests

Achieve effective coordination between protection and development

At present, how to respond to the copyright issues brought about by the development of artificial intelligence technology, so as to promote the healthy development of new technologies; How to not only benefit the public, but also protect the rights and interests of copyright owners has become an unavoidable issue in the field of copyright.

Sun Yue, vice chairman and secretary general of the Copyright Society of China, said that as one of the most revolutionary technologies, generative artificial intelligence is one of the most revolutionary technologies, and its core application field is the creation of content, so the copyright issues involved are particularly prominent. He mentioned that generative AI currently faces three main issues in the field of copyright: whether the exploitation of works by large model training is applicable to the limitations and exceptions system such as fair use under the Copyright Law; whether AI-generated content constitutes a work; Assignment of ownership and infringement liability for AI-generated content.

Sun Yue further introduced that judging from the existing judicial practice in China, when the court deals with copyright cases related to AI-generated content, it does tend to allocate the rights of the generated content to the final user. This approach is based on the basic principle that "where the right lies, where the responsibility lies", that is, whoever has the right to generate the content should be liable for copyright infringement.

"In response to the copyright challenges posed by AI-generated content, many countries and regions have adopted a series of explorations and countermeasures, including legal provisions, registration guidelines, case judgments, etc., and the World Intellectual Property Organization has also actively participated in them, providing guidance and assistance to countries around the world. In February this year, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released Generative AI: Navigating Intellectual Property, which not only provides countries with guidelines and checklists, but also proposes specific safeguards to protect against risks. For example, to minimize the risk of infringing output, it is advisable to avoid mentioning the name of a third-party company, trademark, copyrighted work, or a specific author or artist in the prompt. Sun Yue mentioned that these countermeasures are worthy of careful study by the mainland, and specific reference should be made according to the actual national conditions, so as to improve local legislation and practice. Sun Yue said that although there are different legal provisions and judicial practices on these issues at home and abroad, it is generally accepted that the principle of harmless technology and good application should run throughout.

Yan Bo, director of the Copyright Operation Center of the General Manager's Office of China Central Radio and Television, said that the application of generative AI in the fields of text, pictures, sound, video and software has brought great incentives and promotions to the copyright industry. China Central Radio and Television has also responded positively, formulating a "5G+4K+AI" strategy to explore the application of artificial intelligence in program production.

In view of the fact that there is still a great deal of controversy about the copyrightability of AI-generated content at home and abroad, Yan Bo also introduced the different standards for the copyright determination of AI-generated content in different countries and regions. For example, the European Union uses a four-step test to determine the copyrightability of AI works, but the effectiveness of this approach has been questioned because the technical capabilities of AI go beyond the scope of the traditional copyright system; The United States Copyright Office divides works into two categories: human-led and machine-assisted, the latter being copyrightable under the existing copyright framework, while products conceived and implemented by machines are not supported.

"In the face of AI, we should still maintain a calm mind and seek a balance between the interests of all parties." Guo He said that in the face of the challenges brought by cutting-edge technologies such as generative AI, the reform of the copyright system should be gradual rather than subversive. He believes that the core of the copyright system is to balance the interests of creators, disseminators and the public.

Liu Lina, Deputy Director of the Fourth Procuratorate Department of the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate, analyzed the copyright protection under the development model of new industries such as artificial intelligence from the perspective of judicial practice. She pointed out that with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, procuratorial organs are also facing new challenges when handling relevant criminal cases. In current judicial practice, the types of cases involving artificial intelligence mainly focus on the following aspects: AI models require a large amount of data during the training process, which may contain copyrighted works, and if the data is used without authorization, it may constitute infringement; In the process of data collection, sensitive information of citizens may be involved, such as personal identity, behavior data, etc.; In order to obtain training data, some criminals may use illegal means to hack into other people's computer information systems; Although AI technology itself does not directly commit crimes, it may be used as a tool to commit traditional crimes such as fraud and illegal fundraising.

Combined with the application status of artificial intelligence in the publishing industry and the trend of copyright governance, Ye Wenfang, associate professor of the School of Publishing of Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication, said that artificial intelligence technology is profoundly changing the ecology of the publishing industry, especially in the fields of content editing, academic publishing and educational publishing, and its application has achieved remarkable results. For example, the Higher Education Press's "Smart School Cloud" can intelligently review the content of textbooks, and China Publishing Group's "Xunzi" large language model of ancient books can automatically complete the translation and indexing of ancient books...... These applications not only improve the efficiency of publishing, but also enrich the expression of published content and inject new vitality into the publishing industry.

However, the application of AI in the publishing industry inevitably brings copyright issues. Ye Wenfang pointed out that large AI models in the publishing industry often require a large number of copyright resources for training, which involves the acquisition and use of copyright resources. In her view, there were currently three focal points in copyright governance: fair use, prior permission, and statutory permission. However, in the era of artificial intelligence, these traditional methods may be difficult to fully adapt to the new technological environment.

Yan Bo also said that the development of artificial intelligence should be reasonably regulated while respecting the rights and interests of human creation, "which requires the establishment of reasonable copyright rules as soon as possible to clarify the copyright regulation and benefit distribution mechanism between human prior creation and AI-generated works." ”

Seize the opportunity

Promote the benign development of new quality productive forces

Intellectual property publishing houses have innate excellent "genes" in the field of copyright protection. Liu Chao introduced that in recent years, the Intellectual Property Publishing House has vigorously developed integrated publishing, actively laid out the "AI + Publishing" integration system, promoted the incubation, publishing, operation and protection of copyright, promoted copyright output, actively expanded the whole field of intellectual property services, and built Zhongzhi Huihai Intellectual Property Big Data and Intelligent Management Platform around the creation, application, protection, management and service of intellectual property, and built an innovative service ecosystem, which strongly supported the construction of an intellectual property power.

Zhang Hongzhen put forward his own suggestions. He believes that, first of all, it is necessary to improve the level of legalization of copyright work, accurately grasp the key points of the third revision of the Copyright Law, actively promote the revision and improvement of supporting laws and regulations, and give full play to the important role of the legal system in standardizing, guiding and promoting the development of the copyright industry; Secondly, it is necessary to strengthen the protection of the whole chain of copyright, and strengthen the coordination and cooperation of departments through the comprehensive use of legal, policy, economic, administrative, technical and social governance and other means, so as to ensure the smooth operation of the whole process of copyright from creation to application, to protection, management and service, and strive to build a new pattern of copyright protection composed of government supervision, judicial protection, industry self-discipline and social supervision; Thirdly, it is necessary to promote the development of the copyright industry, continuously expand the advantages of the copyright industry, transform copyright into economic benefits, and benefit creators, so as to attract more outstanding talents to invest in innovation; Finally, efforts should be made to raise public awareness of copyright, create a social atmosphere of respect for copyright, and make the public aware of the importance of copyright through education and publicity, so that respect for originality can become a social consensus.

The Copyright Society of China has been committed to promoting the application of new technologies in the field of copyright protection. Sun Yue introduced that since the "China Copyright Chain" service platform established under the guidance of the Copyright Society of China was launched in 2021, it has provided strong technical support for the confirmation, protection and transaction of copyright. In 2022, "China Copyright Chain" was selected as a national blockchain innovation application pilot jointly carried out by 16 departments including the Cyberspace Administration of China, and was rated as an excellent pilot project by the Cyberspace Administration of China in 2024.

Xiao Hong, member of the Party Committee and deputy general manager of Tongfang CNKI, said that in order to promote the healthy development of the digital publishing industry, CNKI has established an author service center to provide a one-stop service platform for authors. Through real-name authentication, authors can use their academic achievements for free and enjoy value-added services. By signing a licensing agreement with the author, the ownership of rights and interests can be clarified to avoid infringement disputes. At the same time, authors are encouraged to promote the free dissemination of academic achievements through public welfare authorization. In addition, CNKI also promotes the society's awareness of respect and protection of copyright through multi-channel promotion, and promotes the standardized use of knowledge resources.

"In the face of the vigorous development of new technologies, we should not only see the challenges brought by new technologies to the copyright system, but also make full use of the opportunities brought by new technologies, and continue to promote the application and healthy development of new quality productivity in the field of copyright." Sun Yue said.

Source: China Press, Publication, Radio and Television

Edited by Feng Luyu

Second instance Zeng Min

The third trial Chen issued a document