Should China Adopt an Extended Licensing System to Facilitate Collective Copyright Administration: Preliminary Thoughts

Abstract

The paper argues that China could adopt an extended collective copyright licensing system similar to the one used in Nordic countries to facilitate collective management. The paper firstly examines the characteristics of three major models of collective administration. It then introduces the development of collective management organizations in China and demonstrates that a pesky problem CMOs face is they are unable to represent copyright holders who are not CMO members. The inability to represent non-members largely renders the CMO system inefficient. To address the problem, the paper recommends China adopt an extended licensing system based on the Nordic model and puts forward suggestions on how to implement such a system. Finally, the paper considers some downsides of the current legal and regulatory framework of the collective administration system and proposes amendments to the Copyright Law of 2001 and the Collective Copyright Management Regulations to address the deficiencies. To improve the CMO system based on the proposed amendments would provide a sound foundation for copyright law to implement an extended licensing system.