Copyright on the Internet. A Comparison EU/China
Within the scope of the consortium supported by CO-REACH, the Hans Bredow Institute and its partners hosted a workshop on “current issues related to copyright on the Internet” in Bejing in November. CO-REACH is a network of European policy and funding organisations involved in promoting research co-operation with China. Further members of the consortium are the Institute of Law at the China Academy of Social Sciences, Strathclyde University, Vienna University of Economics and Business, and the Molengraaf Institute for Private Law at Utrecht University.
Regarding this subject, a comparison of law is especially relevant as differences become obvious, for example regarding questions of providers’ liability in case users violate copyright law. In China, the fact adds that charges are difficult to enforce. However, material regulations of copyright law in China and Europe are astoundingly alike in their structure.
In 2010/2011, the project consortium will explore particular issues in further workshops. Topics will be, among others, regulations on private copies, abandoned works, responsibility of platform providers, as well as technical filtering and self-regulation.
For the Hans Bredow Institute, this comparably small project is important in two respects: on the one hand the Institute contributes expertise about regulation to an area of law, which has to date only marginally come into view: copyright law. On the other hand the Asia-Pacific region is gaining considerable momentum with regard to research policy, and the Institute – within its means – aims to foster and extend its contact with China, but also with Thailand and Australia, in order to participate in this development.