CHINA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LAW NEWSLETTER
Vol. 2, No. 2 -January 16, 2001
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- Supreme People's Court Establishes Judicial Rule to Protect Online IPR
- Chinese-Language Domain Name Disputes Continue
- CCT Telecom to Team Up With Haier to Make Mobile Phones
- Two Websites Go to Court
- Insurance Regulatory Commission Goes Online
- More than 300 Internet Cafes in Xi'an
Supreme People's Court Establishes Judicial Rule to Protect Online IPR
Amidst an increasing wave of disputes over content posted on the Internet, the Supreme People's Court recently issued a judicial interpretation that provides legal protection of copyrights in digital form.
According to the judicial interpretation, copyright owners "have the right to use or permit others to use their works in a digital format, and must be paid for it."
Websites that display copyrighted content must obtain permission from and pay the owner of the copyright, and give credit to the original author.
The judicial interpretation permits courts to order offenders to remove unauthorized material from their websites and compensate the copyright holders.
The limit on compensation awards has been set at RMB 500,000 (US $60,000).
The Supreme People's Court is authorized to issue judicial interpretations of China's laws and regulations. This authorization comes not from China's Constitution, but from the National People's Congress, which passed the Resolution on Judicial Explanation in 1981.
The purpose of this judicial interpretation is to provide some guidelines for judges across the country, as cases involving copyright issues on the Internet are becoming common.
China's Copyright Law, which was promulgated in 1991, does not contain specific language to protect copyrights on the Internet. Because of this, courts in China had been struggling with the issue of online infringement.
(Sources: People's Daily, China Daily)
Chinese-Language Domain Name Disputes Continue
The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) has authorized the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) to create a center to help resolve disputes in Chinese-language domain disputes.
Beginning January of this year, the 'Chinese-Language Domain Name Resolution Center' will formally begin to handle disputes over registration of Chinese domain names.
The Center has already created rules and procedures to regulate such disputes.
This is an interesting development in the burgeoning battle over Chinese-language domain names. Recently, China attempted to affect the market for these domain names by preferring one of two new and competing standards.
In November, Beijing dealt a blow to VeriSign Inc., which has developed a system for allowing domain names in pictographic languages. However, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) developed another system. Both entities planned to begin registration in November. That is, until Beijing announced that only a few mainland entities would be allowed to assign Chinese-language domain names.
Many analysts anticipate a mad rush to register the domain names, with massive numbers of filings and registrations over the next few years.
Now CNNIC has established the Resolution Center, and the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) released a new regulation last week.
According to the regulation, without the MII's approval, no organizations or individuals can be involved in the businesses related to domain name registration, related services or agent registration.
Any enterprise or individual dealing in Chinese character domain names that fails to obtain a license within 60 days is to be suspended and punished according to the related laws and regulations, the circular said.
(Sources: People's Daily, China Daily)
CCT Telecom to Team Up With Haier to Make Mobile Phones
CCT Telecom Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong-based integrated information technology services provider, announced earlier this month that it would team up with the Chinese mainland's major electrical appliances manufacturer Haier to produce cellular phones.
The two companies would establish a joint venture to produce mobile phones, with the official launch set for February 6 in Qingdao city, Shandong province in East China, said Clement Mak, chairman of CCT Telecom.
CCT Telecom and Haier would take advantage of each other's winning edge to seek a big share of the fast growing Chinese market, said Flora Cheng, Executive Director of CCT Telecom.
The new joint venture already has two production lines in place, each with a capacity of 2 million mobile phones annually, Flora said, adding that a third production line would be installed later.
Mobile phones manufactured by the joint venture will mainly be launched onto the European and the mainland markets, according to Flora Cheng.
CCT Telecom has witnessed much development within the 20 years since its founding and the turnover of CCT Tech, the Telecom products manufacturing and distributing arm of CCT Telecom, increased from 622 million HK dollars (US $79.7 million) in 1998 to 1,245 million HK dollars (US $159.6 million), a growth of 100 percent, according to Mak.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Two Websites Go to Court
A popular local website in Shanghai with the Chinese name "Dongfang Wang" (Oriental Net) recently filed a suit against another site, headquartered in north China's Shandong province, with the same Chinese name.
The plaintiff, which launched a website called "eastday.com" on May 28 this year, accused the Shandong company of opening another website, "eastdays.com" shortly after. The Shandong company then allegedly copied the content and style of "eastday.com."
The defendant also allegedly carried an advertisement on its website asserting its claim to the disputed Chinese name, and claiming itself to be one of the largest media and information servers, in an attempt to interest advertisers. The plaintiff is demanding the immediate cancellation of the "eastdays.com" domain name registration and compensation of a million RMB.
(Sources: People's Daily, China Daily)
Insurance Regulatory Commission Goes Online
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has formally opened its official web site, providing a new and authoritative source of insurance information.
The web site, www.circ.gov.cn, informs citizens about the latest news concerning CIRC, official announcements, insurance laws and regulations and industrial statistics.
The web site also provides a complete list of the CIRC's local offices, insurance companies, brokers and agents operating in China, as well as their addresses.
Since the Chinese government launched its "government going on-line" project in early 1999, about 60 departments of the central government and 2,300 local governments and their subsidiaries have gone on-line, according to latest official figures.
(Source: BBC News)
More than 300 Internet Cafes in Xi'an
The number of Internet users in northwest China's Shaanxi Province rose to 300,000 at the end of last year, six times more than the figure in 1999.
When Shaanxi was first connected to the Internet in 1996, only 400 people applied for the connection. The number of applicants climbed to 23,000 in 1998 and 52,000 in 1999. At present, Internet users in Shaanxi account for 0.8 per cent of the total population of Shaanxi.
The province has built 800 web sites and 80 data banks. Xi'an, the provincial capital, has more than 300 Internet cafes. Approximately one fifth of Shaanxi's gross domestic product comes from the information industry.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
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