China to Charge Internet Cafes and Long-distance Buses for Film Royalties

China will start collecting royalties on copyrighted films shown in internet cafés and on long-distance buses.

While hailing the move as an improvement in China's intellectual property rights protection efforts, experts and insiders are calling for additional action in collecting the fees.

CRI's Chen Zhe has more.

Li Guomin is Secretary General of the Film Copyright Society of China, the organization that determines and collects film copyright royalty fees in the country.

He says the copyrighted movies shown in internet cafes and on long-distance buses for free are hampering the further development of the film industry.

"Collecting the royalties aims to increase the interests of film rights holders to ensure their future production and expansion and make more high-quality movie productions for the general public."

As a remedy, Li Guomin says the National Copyright Administration has approved that a royalty fee regulation will first be implemented in several cities and provinces next year before being applied to the entire country.

Zhang Xiaoyong, an intellectual property rights protection law expert at the China Youth University of Political Science, hails the move.

"Undoubtedly, I think the move shows the country's determination and improvement in IPR protection. We can see that China has established and keeps improving a legal system on IPR protection in a much shorter period than some western countries have."China became a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization in 1980 and issued a patent act in 1983, 200 years after the United States issued its own patent regulation.

In this regard, Zhao Xiaoyong says China's IPR protection still faces great challenges.

"After the government set up the law, more effort should [now] be put into its implementation, which not only relies on law enforcement departments, but also the general public who should be fully aware of the importance of IPR protection and learn to respect it."

Zhang cautions that setting up proper standards for establishing and collecting royalty fees and dealing with those who refuse to pay them are vital issues.

Li Guomin from the Film Copyright Society of China says the organization has been researching ways to implement the new regulation, but is still tying to determine the final fee scheme.

"The main principle of the regulation is to avoid misunderstanding, ensure copyright holders' legal interests and protect film broadcasters from further legal disputes."

Li says specific procedures for charging and collecting royalty fees will be publicized after they are finalized. The fee coverage will also be expanded from internet cafes and long-distance buses to other film users in the future.

For CRI, this is Chen Zhe.