China's proposed copyright bill has been modified in a second draft.
It makes some big changes from the first version, stepping back from
some of the more controversial provisions. Both have clear lessons for
rights holders looking to protect their IP rights in the country.
Statutory licences reduced
One of the biggest changes in the second draft is the removal of the
provision allowing for statutory licences for sound recordings. "Article
46 of the first draft applied to sound recordings and stated that,
after the recording had been released for three months, other parties
can use musical works in such sound recordings to make another recording
without prior consent from the copyright owner," explains Haifeng Huang
of Jones Day.
"The provision would have established a statutory licence that was
mandatory and with no exceptions, where the party using the musical work
would make a payment to...