China's online copyright protection stimulates industry growth

Online copyright protection has stimulated the growth of the industry in 2017, a new report found.

"The digital economy has become a major driver to stimulate China's economy, and also accelerate the rapid development of the core copyright industry," according to an annual report on China's online copyright protection in 2017, which was released in Beijing on Thursday, the World Intellectual Property Day.

The report was issued by the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology.

The development of the digital economy ensures the growth of the core copyright industry, said Liu Duo, head of the academy.

China's online copyright market has experienced a structural transformation from focusing on traffic to valuing content, the report said.

In 2017, traditional and new media have further integrated and high-quality content has become core competitiveness. Customers are more willing to pay for high-quality content, the report found.

"The government has continued to expand to crack down on infringement and improve the copyright environment, which leads to a new opportunity for online copyright protection," Liu said.

However, challenges remain, she admitted, such as the emergence of new formats, compounding the difficulty of enforcing regulations, and establishing healthy competition to avoid exclusive authorization.

Yu Cike, director of copyright management for the National Copyright Administration, believed that China's copyright environment has greatly improved in the past five years.

Some 23,000 infringement cases were carried out by copyright law enforcement departments, confiscating 64.73 million pirated copies and shutting down 3,908 websites, Yu said.