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China's government has long vowed to rein in intellectual
property infringement from knock-off goods to the theft of
commercial secrets. But violations remain rampant.
While the republishing of other news outlets' articles is common
practice in China, some companies in the country's increasingly
competitive media industry have become more vocal about what
they say is unauthorized use of original content.
"We must strengthen enforcement and increase the strength of
punishment for those that do not make corrections," State
Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television
(SARFT) Deputy Director Yan Xiaohong said on Thursday.
Yan, also a deputy director at the National Copyright
Administration of China, told a forum of media experts and
officials from Chinese news outlets that an "efficient and
low-cost authorization mechanism" should be created to safeguard
copyright.
"The key is that this type of use should be authorized and paid
for, and not used as one pleases. Speaking of copyright,
orderly, standardized use is an aspect that we need to work on
and reinforce," Yan said, in a speech published by the official
Xinhua news agency.
A trend towards greater commercialization in Chinese media,
still heavily controlled by the state, has put pressure on
companies to generate greater profits.
Yan's comments come about a week after the influential news
outlet Caixin publicly condemned Shanghai-based news portal
WallStreetcn.com for what it said was repeated unauthorized
reproduction of its articles.
"As news media, WallStreetcn.com news ignores relevant national
legal statutes and regulations, infringes on Caixin's rights,
violates the most fundamental professional ethics and baseline
values of journalists, and gravely disrupts the normal order of
the media market," Caixin said on its website.
The statement, from late November, was the latest in a series of
notices from Caixin targeting various outlets for copyright
violations in recent years.
Some of the news items that Caixin complained about contained
openly available information and its own analysis,
Wallstreetcn.com said in a statement on its website.
It said articles that cited Caixin contained links to the
original work. Wallstreetcn.com also said it would "clarify
responsibility as soon as possible and correct mistakes if any
were made".
(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Ryan Woo)
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