Guan H. Tang: Copyright and the public interest in China
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Guan H. Tang: Copyright and the public interest in China Edward Elgar, Cheltenham and Northampton, 2011, XIII + 283 pp, £ 79.95, ISBN: 978-0-85793-106-1 Daniel Sprick
© China-EU School of Law 2013
Many volumes have been written on the protection of intellectual property rights and the lack of it in the People’s Republic of China (“China”). Especially after China’s accession to the WTO legions of scholars have probed the legal environment of copyright, trademark and patent protection in China documenting the shortcomings of Chinese legislation as well as its implementation and enforcement. Thankfully, Tang Guanhong does not focus on these well-published aspects but alternatively chooses another promising approach to conceptualize copyright in China. Using the public interest defense under common law as an inspirational starting point, Tang, skillfully frames the concept of public interest and its ramifications in the context of copyright law in the People’s Republic of China. While public interest is the overarching topos of this work, the specific objects of research are the infringement of copyrights and the Internet (Chapter 2), administrative enforcement of copyrights (Chapter 3), copyright within the realms of public education (Chapter 4), public libraries (Chapter 5) and public archives in China (Chapter 6). Chapter 2 mainly explores the conflicting paradigms of authorship public interest and access public interest in China and its respective significance for judicial practice. In the following chapter, Tang discusses the scope of administrative copyright enforcement based on Art. 47 of the copyright law which gives authority to the relevant state organs to stop copyright infringements if it is in the public interest (公共利益) to do so. Both of these chapters have been adapted from previously published articles. Unfortunately, there is a certain lack of coherence with the remaining parts of this book. The following chapters (3–6) are the most interesting and original aspects of this work covering areas of copyright matters since this is where the conflict between authorship public interest and access public interest is most evident, not only in China. Although such aspects are related to privacy rights, the account of the civil suit regarding the biography of Chen D. Sprick (&) University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923 Ko¨ln, Germany e-mail: [email protected]
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D. Sprick
Lianke, poignantly illustrates the sensitivity of scholarly historiography in the People’s Republic of China. Moreover, the most compelling part of this work is the excellent compilation of relevant cases. Particularly with regard to the struggle of the literary and academic community (e.g. Wang Meng, S. 82; Chen Xingliang, S. 84; Zhang Xinmin, S. 151; Jiang Xingyu, S. 202); the given accounts of their copyright protection claims are indeed the most striking part of this book. Unfortunately, the reader is not enlightened as to what exactly is meant by the term “public interest in China”. Throughout the Discussion in Chapter 3
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