China should reform its Copyright Law argues the expert on Intellectual Property Law Dr Wang Jia in her new book “Conceptualising Copyright Exceptions in China and South Africa”.

"Public interest and private interests in the protection of copyright should be newly reevaluated,” says the legal scholar from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “It has to be recognised that it is in the public interest to use copyright exceptions to reduce education and research costs and to encourage creativity and learning.”

In her new book “Conceptualising Copyright Exceptions in China and South Africa”, which will be published in the China-EU Law Series in April 2018, Dr Wang Jia thus summons to adjust copyright law to digital dissemination and adaption technologies. “Currently, Copyright Law restricts the innovative use of books, articles, music and software which is essential for quality education and research.” Moreover, there would be more potential for long distance usage both in China and South Africa. Dr Wang Jiang suggests to provide more flexibility by adding exceptions to the Chinese Copyright Law of 1990 which did not yet specify on neither digitalization nor the rights and duties of internet service providers.

For her book, Dr Wang Jia examined judgements and legal decisions from databases such as PKU Law, IPHouse, China IPR Judgements & Decisions as well as WIPO IP Databases. She compared Chinese and South African Copyright Law to Copyright Law in the EU, the US and within WTO rules. “Since I was the first Chinese national who obtained an offer to read for a doctoral degree in Intellectual Property Law in South Africa, I realized that it was a great opportunity to conduct research on Copyright Law in China and South Africa,” explains Wang Jia, who also conducted research as a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society in Harvard. “I noticed that developing countries in the past merely copied the copyright law of developed countries, without properly adapting this legislation to their own national needs and without bridging the digital divide or preparing for a knowledge-based economy – now, China has the opportunity to do so, perhaps also as a role model within countries.”

The book “Conceptualising Copyright Exceptions in China and South Africa”