Scholarly Publication and Copyright from MIT

Retaining Copyrights to Increase Research Impact: Online Tutorial

Scholarly Publication - MIT Libraries

The tutorial is "intended to explain how copyright relates to publication agreements for research articles, and how authors can increase the impact of their work by negotiating to retain rights to post their articles on the web or reuse them in other ways".

I have the awful experience that scholarly articles cannot be accessed without subscription or membership privilege when I just wanna check or cite the original.

Digital technology makes open access easy, and a balanced relationship among authors, publishers, and the general public is not impossible.

Online Games Alliance Against Piracy

Online game companies form anti-piracy group

The Alliance Against Piracy will propose industry-wide policies and practices and lobby lawmakers to enact anti-piracy legislation. The Beijing-based alliance also includes four Korean game makers and an Icelandic firm.

CDC Games and Leading Game Developers Form Alliance to Protect Online Game Industry from Piracy

What interests me is that CDC Games has reportedly helped the China government convict two operators of "piracy for profit" of one of their online fantasy games, resulting in criminal convictions including prison sentences and fines.

"The first case, known as the 'Tianzi case' involved a private server operator that was running illegal copies of the MIR III game online. The conviction of the operator included the seizure of all their equipment and a three-year prison sentence.

The second case, known as the '007 case', recently concluded in August 2007 with a six-year prison sentence and a fine of US $67,000. In this case, the operator was running an illegal macro program that allowed players to purchase online game merchandise such as special powers and weapons. "

Not just copyright：Citizen translation of Harry Potter 7

IHT.com: Lots of Harry Potter books in China, not all of them by the author

EastSouthWestNorth: Self-Organized Citizen Translations of Harry Potter 7

青年周末：大中学生成《哈7》民间翻译主力

Shanghai Daily: Potter novel translation posted online

国际巫师联盟_peop.cn：“翻译组即日解散，翻译活动因种种原因不得不停止!!!”

I did see pirated Harry Potter 7 sold by street vendors in Beijing several days ago. But, the problem is not simply copyright violation from the legal perspective concerning these citizen translations.

China-U.S. joint piracy investigation

中美联合开展“夏至”行动破获两起特大跨国盗版犯罪案件

“2007年7月6日至16日，中国公安机关与美国联邦调查局开展代号‘夏至’的联合行动，成功破获两起特大跨国生产、销售盗版软件的犯罪案件。中国公安机关现已缉捕犯罪嫌疑人25名，缴获盗版母碟22张，盗版Vista、Office2007、Norton Systemworks等软件光盘、真品证书（COA）、防伪标签等共计36万张（件），冻结、查封涉案资金、车辆、房产等价值6000余万元人民币。同时，美国联邦调查局已经执行了24项搜查令和资产扣押令，查获价值200多万美元的盗版软件，扣押了超过70万美元的资产，对犯罪嫌疑人的缉捕行动将在美国内逐步展开。此次中美联合执法行动是目前全球打击高品质软件盗版活动的最大、最成功的执法行动。”

INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION CONDUCTED JOINTLY BY FBI AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES IN PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA RESULTS IN MULTIPLE ARRESTS IN CHINA AND SEIZURES OF COUNTERFEIT MICROSOFT AND SYMANTEC SOFTWARE

"Operation Summer Solstice encompasses multiple investigations currently being conducted by the FBI in Los Angeles and the MPS, Economic Crime Investigation Department (ECID), in which criminal organizations responsible for manufacturing and distributing counterfeit software have been identified in both Shanghai and Shenzhen; as were distributors located in the United States."

"FBI Agents assigned to Los Angeles and the FBI’s Legal Attache Office located in Beijing, China, provided information and substantial assistance in support of the investigation conducted by the MPS, ECID located in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen China. "

"The joint investigation was facilitated and supported by the IP Criminal Enforcement Working Group of the U.S.-China Joint Liaison Group for law enforcement, which is co-chaired by the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the PRC, MPS. The Working Group is dedicated to increasing cooperation in intellectual property law enforcement efforts and pursuing more joint US-China cross-border criminal enforcement operations."

FT: China joins FBI in piracy operation

MICROSOFT: Raids in Southern China Target $2 Billion Global Software Counterfeiting Syndicate

软件著作权登记

软件登记数量上半年又创新高

“截止到2007年6月30日，今年上半年全国计算机软件登记数量达11414件，同比增长了8.21%，为历年登记数量之最。在各种软件登记中，软件著作权登记数量为10842件，占登记总量的94.99%。

根据登记人所在地区情况统计，全国软件著作权登记数量列前十位的省、自治区和直辖市分别是：

第一位北京市，登记数量为3962件，同比增长了7.28%，占登记总量的34.71%；

第二位广东省，登记数量为1365件，同比增长了9.73%，占登记总量的11.96%；

第三位上海市，登记数量为1261件，同比增长了13.30%，占登记总量的11.92%；

第四位浙江省，登记数量为858件，同比增长了5.15%，占登记总量的7.52%；

第五位江苏省，登记数量为750件，同比增长了32.51%，占登记总量的6.57%。

列第六位至第十位的分别是：福建省（391件）、山东省（336件）、湖北省（258件）、四川省（216件）和天津市（174件）。

列前五位的均为沿海经济发达地区，这五个地区软件著作权登记数量占整个登记总量的72.68%。据了解，上述排列顺序与各地在全国软件发展规模和水平中所占地位基本吻合。”

背景1：软件登记的事项作为初步证明，为软件企业在证明权利归属，以及在享受国家产业优惠政策提供帮助等方面发挥着重要作用。软件著作权登记工作也列入了国家鼓励和发展软件产业的政策和发展纲要之中。

背景2：中国版权保护中心是国家版权局认定的负责全国软件著作权登记工作的唯一机构。目前，一个软件从提出申请到登记完毕的周期已经从原来的60天缩短为现在的30天。

国家版权局颁布2007年1号公告

国家版权局发布《要求删除或断开链接侵权网络内容的通知》及《要求恢复被删除或断开链接的网络内容的说明》示范格式

《要求删除或断开链接侵权网络内容的通知》及《要求恢复被删除或断开链接的网络内容的说明》是国家版权局根据《信息网络传播权保护条例》第14条、第16条的规定，细化“书面通知” 和“书面说明” 的内容而制订的指导性格式范本，仅向社会推荐使用。

要求删除或断开链接侵权网络内容的通知（示范格式）

《要求删除或断开链接侵权网络内容的通知》填写说明

要求恢复被删除或断开链接的网络内容的说明（示范格式）

《要求恢复被删除或断开链接的网络内容的说明》填写说明

其实，搜索引擎早已出台了各自的权利通知与反通知政策。仔细比较之下，有不少值得玩味之处，尤其是Google的做法。

百度著作权保护声明

Google's Policy on Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Yahoo!'s Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy

附记，最近关于信息网络传播权的一个新突破：Belgium Reins in Filesharing: Belgian ISPs to be held responsible for copyright infringement on their networks.

"A Belgian court has ruled that an internet service provider must block illegal, peer-to-peer filesharing on its network. The ruling is the first in Europe to hold an ISP accountable for copyright-infringing traffic and it will likely ripple across the EU, according to London-based IFPI, a counterpart of the Recording Industry Association of America."

Release of GPLv3

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 29 June 2007

Richard Stallman: Why Upgrade to GPLv3 (Chinese Version)

Two critical issues are addressed by GPLv3:

"Some devices are designed to deny users access to install or run modified versions of the software inside them, although the manufacturer can do so. This is fundamentally incompatible with the aim of protecting users' freedom to change the software. The systematic pattern of such abuse occurs in the area of products for individuals to use, which is precisely where it is most unacceptable. Therefore, we have designed this version of the GPL to prohibit the practice for those products. If such problems arise substantially in other domains, we stand ready to extend this provision to those domains in future versions of the GPL, as needed to protect the freedom of users.

Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents. States should not allow patents to restrict development and use of software on general-purpose computers, but in those that do, we wish to avoid the special danger that patents applied to a free program could make it effectively proprietary. To prevent this, the GPL assures that patents cannot be used to render the program non-free."

版权贸易逆差

新闻出版总署报告显示我国版权贸易逆差依然巨大

以下摘自“2006年全国新闻出版业基本情况”：

1、2006年全国共引进出版物版权12386种，其中图书10950种，期刊540种，录音制品150种，录像制品108种，电子出版物174种，软件434种，电影29种，电视节目1种。

图书版权引进地情况如下：美国2957种，英国1296种，德国303种，法国253种，俄罗斯38种，加拿大40种，新加坡156种，日本484种，韩国315种，香港地区144种，澳门地区2种，台湾地区749种，其他地区4213种。

2、2006年全国共输出出版物版权2057种，其中图书2050种，期刊2种，电子出版物5种。

图书版权输出地情况如下：美国147种，英国66种，德国104种，法国14种，俄罗斯66种，加拿大25种，新加坡47种，日本116种，韩国363种，香港地区119种，澳门地区53种，台湾地区702种，其他地区228种。(说明：以上统计未含香港、澳门、台湾地区的相关统计数据。)

版权贸易逆差危局 外版图书中国市场持续性高烧

引进十本 输出一本：中国书业贸易逆差之痛

版权贸易中进口多出口少：中国图书要学会卖版权

互联网时代的著作权保护

去年12月，我参加了由香港浸会大学媒体与传播研究中心与南京大学网络传播研究中心联合召集，香港浸会大学主办的“数码传播与社会转型：中华社会及其他地区之经验”的国际会议，并就被会议接纳的论文《搜索引擎提供的网络链接与信息网络传播权保护》做了发言。

5月23日，特地去旁听了中国互联网协会网络版权联盟（ISCU）主办的“网络经济下的版权纠纷”研讨会。

围绕着不久前11家国际知名唱片公司联合起诉“雅虎中文网”侵犯著作邻接权的案件，互联网公司和唱片公司的代表各执一词，针锋相对。蒋志培法官和高卢麟先生也先后做了评论。

回来后，看到了有关WEB RADIO的一系列报道：

Broadcasters Challenge Streaming Rules

Will new royalty rates kill online radio?

Feds Come to Web Radio Rescue

Music Industry Defers Web Royalties

如何平衡利益？我觉得，这是一个很好的案例，值得深究。

In-depth Discussion：What Goes Up Must Come Down: Copyright and Process in the Age of User-posted Content