Reaction To Danwei’s Question About Republishing In China

Posted on December 24, 2006 by Dr. Danny Friedmann

Danwei’s Jeremy Goldkorn has an interesting article about whether it is legal to copy and paste entire news articles, read here.

China’s copyright law should be in lign with the Berne Convention of which China is a signatory since July 10, 1992 (entry in force October 15, 1992).

Article 10bis (2) Berne Convention
It shall also be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to determine the conditions under which, for the purpose of reporting current events by means of photography, cinematography, broadcasting or communication to the public by wire, literary or artistic works seen or heard in the course of the event may, to the extent justified by the informatory purpose, be reproduced and made available to the public.

So reproduction is possible, to the extent justified by the informatory purpose.

Article 22 Copyright Law
(3) reuse or citation, for any unavoidable reason, of a published work in newspapers, periodicals, at radio stations, television stations or any other media for the purpose of reporting current events;

So article 22 (3) Copyright Law states that there needs to be an unavoidable reason. A reason could be that because of the actuality or public character of the event there is no time left to first ask for permission of the author.


10bis (1) Berne Convention
It shall be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to permit the reproduction by the press, the broadcasting or the communication to the public by wire of articles published in newspapers or periodicals on current economic, political or religious topics, and of broadcast works of the same character, in cases in which the reproduction, broadcasting or such communication thereof is not expressly reserved. Nevertheless, the source must always be clearly indicated; the legal consequences of a breach of this obligation shall be determined by the legislation of the country where protection is claimed.

Article 22 (4) Copyright Law
reprinting by newspapers or periodicals, or rebroadcasting by radio stations, television stations, or any other media, of articles on current issues relating to politics, economics or religion published by other newspapers, periodicals, or broadcast by other radio stations, television stations or any other media except where the author has declared that the reprinting and rebroadcasting is not permitted;

It seems integral reproduction of whole articles is allowed, as long the author has not explicitly prohibited this. However, article 22 (4) Copyright Law does not mention the requirement of article 10bis (1) Berne Convention that the source must always be indicated.

However, instead of one limitation called the fair use system, as is the case in the US, which is interpreted broadly, the many limitations of China’s copyright law will be interpreted strictly.
So the practice or a new judicial interpretation will hopefully enlighten us.
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1 Response to Reaction To Danwei’s Question About Republishing In China

  1. Susanna Ng says:
    January 15, 2007 at 2:07 am

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