Author: <span>Donnie</span>

CTrip v Qunar – Who owns the Copyright?

It is widely reported (in Chinese) that Beijing Haidian District People’s Court has given its decision on the copyright disputes between CTrip and Qunar.com. 

Qunar’s search engine crawls CTrip’s website, as well as other similar sites, and search the customers’ comments to hotels, then list the thumbnails of those comments in Qunar’s own pages. According to the news, CTrip sent lawyer’s letter to Qunar three times in June and July. Then it sued Qunar in November.

According to the news (now the judgment still can not be obtained through the Internet), the court seems confirmed that CTrip "owns the copyright to the content and resources in its website". I wish it would just be a new wrongful or half-baked quotation by the journalists. If the court really ruled the case in this way, the court’s tender attitude to the database would create the new regulations in Chinese copyright law (no matter how illegal of this creation in Chinese legal system).

The defendant seems willing to appeal the case to the higher level court, according to the news, again.

Looking forward to read the full text of the judgement. Before that, I will not comment the case in details.

Who owns unauthorized fixation of the performance?

This is a bilingual post, Chinese version follows the English one (the two versions are not exactly same).

  未经许可制作的表演录音(像)的著作权问题:这是一篇双语日志,中文版本在英文后(内容略有不同)。

Fixation of the performance without the performer’s authorization will infringe the copyright. However, the questions follow: shall those unauthorized phonograms totally be discarded? Who can use them, and in what extent?

Easy124, a reader of this blog, sent me some provisions in Canadian Copyright Act. Among them, Section 15 (1) (b) noted that a performer has a copyright to:

 … reproduce any fixation that was made without the performer’s authorization.

From FaTianXia to YaDian-从法天下到雅典学园

This is a bilingual post. The Chinese version is following the English.
这是一篇双语日志,中文部分在后面。

The logo of FaTianXia.
FaTianXia (Red characters beside the left stamp of Chinese traditional "Law") means Law in the World, or Law for the World, or Study from the World, etc. The black inscription is specially presented by professor Jiang Ping, the most prominent Jurist in China. It says: Rule of the Law for Everwhere, and Thinking for China (my bad translation, while it has far more implications in Chinese).

FaTianXia[dot]com (closed now) impressed me when I saw it at the first sight by its significant technological progress comparing to other Chinese online legal communities. Its founder, KaKaYu had obviously tried his best to design a user-friendly and multifunctional Web 2.0 style interface. I blogged it with joy immediately.

 

Perhaps because of the "BBS culture" in Chinese Internet sphere, or because of the tendency of grand narrative in Chinese legal blogosphere (this tendency has been changing significantly in recent two years), the content in FaTianXia was not as diverse as its technological functions. However, the defects cannot obscure the virtues. It is still one of the best non-profit grass-roots legal communities in China, at least in my view.

 

In fact, because I have my own independent BLawgDog.com, so I actually was not an active user of FaTianXia. I just established a mirro site of BLawgDog at FaTianXia, and occationally uploaded my posts together with their URLs at BLawgDog to lure the eyeballs to my own site. For a UGC (User-generated Content) site, criticising it but with almost zero contribution, is more or less an unkind behavior. 

 

Last December, FaTianXia was closed.  I don’t know the exact reason, so I cannot say anything on it.  What I can say currently is: I find a new Web 2.0 style Chinese legal site: YaDian (means Athens Lyceum in Chinese). It might be the best non-profit grass-roots online legal communities in China, at least in my view.


  从见到法天下的第一天起,我就被它深深吸引。相比其它中文法律社区网站,它在技术理念上大大进步。其主办者卡卡鱼从一开始就尽力将其打造成为一个界面友好、功能丰富的Web2.0网站。为此我还兴奋地专门写过一篇日志

  也许是因为中文网络环境中的“BBS文化”,也可能是因为中文法律博客圈的宏大叙事倾向(近两年有非常大的改观),法天下中的内容还是比较平面化和单一化。但瑕不掩瑜,在我看来,它仍然是中国最好的非营利性草根法律社区之一。

Some comments to the research of Chinese law

After more than thirty years legal march, the Chinese legal system has been more and more complicated (although still immature and full of conflicts), and it is the time to review it as an integrated system but not only a target of criticism.

 

For instance, the research to the text of Chinese legislation may frequently meet a paradox: why the standards in Chinese law are not enforced in practice? The researchers may attribute to the Confucian culture, "Asian Value" and the corruption (or arbitrariness) of authoritarian regime, etc. It seems the violation of human rights, the censorship of Chinese Internet and the widespread piracy in Chinese copyright market were normality, or that would not be China. However, these not-wrong discoveries are mostly not able to provide solutions. A combination of positive research to Chinese law and the observation to either the existing reform within the regime or the potential trends in the society, as what I am trying in my proposed research, may make the solutions nearer.

沉默的羔羊:虚拟服务器服务提供者的安全港问题

  《著作权限制制度比较研究[注:点书名到卓越网购买]的作者王清老师给我留言如下: 

 

  虚拟服务器的出租方属于提供信息存储空间的网络服务提供者应该没有疑问,但是,他们如何根据《信息网络传播权保护条例》第22条之(一)来“明确标示该信息存储空间是为服务对象所提供”?因为,这种情况下,网络服务提供者没有对外的网站,而租用者网站是不可能自己标示。在该条规定的必须同时满足五种条件下,似乎该累提供者难以适用该条免责。感觉该条仅针对类似土豆网的视频网站所规定。

  

What is the Public Domain?

When I am presenting my research today, I find I have to clarify the Public Domain for myself and others in brief and clear sentences. Here it is.

 

Basically, Public Domain means the Domain that is out of the Private Right. It has many definitions such as the strict legal definition, broader definition and the multi-discipline ones.

 

量化法治=/=给法治打分

  豆按:最近参与了一项关于特定城市法治水的平量化评价体系的研究。以下是对初步思路的一个概括性说明,以期能引起任何有兴趣的朋友的关心和讨论。

 

量化法治不等于给法治打分

王启梁、董皓、李娜

 

  所谓“量化法治”,绝非单纯地“为法治打分”。否则,“量化法治”就很容易仅仅成为一个新闻噱头。所谓的量化,其实是对法治进行具体化、细节化的分析以及分类化的评价。换句话说,我们评价体系所做的工作,是对涉及“法治”的诸多环节进行主客观结合的评价,从而尽可能科学、真实地反映一个社会的法治现状,寻找到城市法治建设的长处和短处。
  作为一个量化评价体系,当然涉及到数据的使用和统计。但需要强调的是,在社会科学中,有“硬数据”和“软数据”的区分。所谓“硬数据”,指的是一些客观的统计数字,例如法律从业人员在总人口中的比例及他们所受专业教育的程度,再如一定的GDP总量下,经济诉讼的数量和结案率和调解率,又如特定人口总量下,刑事案件的发案率和破案率等。这些数字中的任何一项,都不能代表整个法治的水平,但它们的综合,就可以从客观层面反映出法制建设的基本情况。所谓“软数据”,是指在严谨的社会科学调查基础上,就法治建设的各项具体问题,对社会各阶层人群进行调查后所获得的数据。这些数据所反映的,是人们对法治环境的主观性评估。在不同的政治体制和社会文化环境中,软数据的统计结果可能各不相同,但它们可以较为迅速地反映出特定社区对法治的关注焦点,从而有利于政府将有限的资源投放到法治建设的关键点上,促进社会的和谐发展和整体法制体系的进步。
  在获取硬数据和软数据前,首先需要做的,是将法学理论中对法治的普遍要求进行精细地再分类,将抽象的法治理念予以具体化。分类化和具体化,对社会科学而言十分重要,举例而言,我们可能很难判断一个人有没有“安全感”,因为“安全感”可能涉及工作、家庭、养老、治安、生活等许多方面。但是,我们可以首先对这个人所居住的社区的保安状况进行评估,再了解其劳动合同的签订情况和执行情况,再了解社会养老保险的总体状况,等等,这样就可以获得一组数据,从而判断出,哪方面是导致“安全感缺失”的主要原因,然后在社会改革中,加强这方面的工作。
  同样的,所谓的法治量化评估体系,实际上就是按照法学理论和国家的法制要求,将抽象的“法治”予以具体化和分类化,对涉及法治的具体方面予以调查和研究,进而建立起一个评估体系,发现哪些领域状况相对比较好,哪些领域在拖法治的后腿甚至阻碍法治的发展。这样的评估结果,可以让我们发现一个城市法治建设的弱项,也可以用强项中的经验来推动弱项的解决,从而有的放矢、高效地促进城市的法治化进程。

 

堪培拉法院利用Facebook送达判决

  昨天的日志与Facebook上的信息流有关,今天又讲Facebook。不过这不是话题广告,只是碰巧连续两篇日志都跟它有关。

  根据《每日电讯》的报道,澳大利亚首都堪培拉的高等法院近日首次,很可能也是全球首次,同意律师使用互联网上的社会性网络服务网站Facebook向两名缺席法庭的当事人送达判决,要求当事人偿还154026澳元债务及8123澳元利息。

  向法庭申请以这个方式送达文书的律师是在通过常规渠道无法联系当事人后,在Facebook上通过搜索邮件地址找到了当事人的页面。在这个页面上有当事人的出生年月日、邮件地址及他们的朋友链接。这些条件满足了当地法庭的送达文书要求(a sufficient method of communicating with the defendants)。在这条新闻为媒体所报道后,两人分别对自己的Facebook页面采取了关闭公众访问和删除的动作(ps,没经验啊,两位仁兄仁姐)

  根据相关报道,过去,法院曾采取电子邮件和手机短信的方式送达过法律文书,通过社会性网络网站(SNS)送达法庭文书则是第一次。

中国的官方语言是什么?

  中国的官方语言是什么?

  答案似乎显而易见,但当我作了半个小时的Research之后,却发现这个问题的法律答案远非我们想像得那么简单。不多说,先看引文(下划线为笔者所加),懒得看的直接跳到后面看结论:

  《中华人民共和国宪法》第十九条第五款:

国家推广全国通用的普通话。

法大知识产权研究中心获教育部重大课题攻关项目立项

  近日,经教育部社科司批准,以中国政法大学知识产权研究中心理事长张楚教授为首席专家的《知识产权行政与司法保护绩效研究》获2008年度教育部哲学社会科学重大课题攻关项目立项。课题组联合了中国政法大学、中国人民大学、中国社会科学院和北京航空航天大学等著名高校和科研机构的相关专家,以及最高人民法院和国家知识产权局等实务部门专家,具有跨学科、跨部门联合攻关的特点。
  本课题立足于全方位、多学科、多角度的系统考察知识产权行政保护与司法保护绩效评价。通过对国内外有关绩效评价的基本理论进行深入研究,强调需要建立以结果导向、过程管理、外部责任、多元参与为特征的知识产权保护绩效评价体系。在以上基本理论指导下,分别考察知识产权行政保护绩效和知识产权司法保护绩效。作为应用型对策性研究课题,本课题最终提出在国家知识产权战略背景下,知识产权行政保护与司法保护改革思路及方向。
  中国政法大学知识产权研究中心自成立以来,先后承担了二十余项国家及省部级知识产权专项研究课题,在参与知识产权理论研究、立法探讨、司法判研、企业运用中获得了学界及社会的高度认可和良好评价。

人民日报:昆明二百余家饭店停播背景音乐

质疑征收音乐版权使用费合理性 昆明二百余家饭店停播背景音乐

《人民日报》(2008年12月2日11版)

  本报昆明12月1日电  (记者胡洪江)因被要求缴纳背景音乐许可使用费,云南省昆明市200余家饭店、宾馆决定从今日起集体停播背景音乐,这在全国尚属首例。

  饭店放歌也要收费?