This Day, That Year

40 years on

Editor’s Note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy.

On May 30, 2005, the Regulation on Administrative Protection of Internet Copyright was implemented to better protect intellectual property rights.

China’s internet copyright industry was worth 636 billion yuan ($99 billion) last year, up 27 percent year-onyear. It covers diverse fields including online videos, games and apps.

The internet copyright industry contributed 0.77 percent to GDP last year, according to official data. The value has tripled since 2013.

“The vitality of the internet copyright industry and its importance to the national economy have experienced rapid and steady growth,” said Zhang Qinkun, secretary-general of the Internet Copyright Industry Research Center. It was set up in 2016 by the National Copyright Administration in cooperation with technology giant Tencent.

In the past two years, livestreaming and short videos have become the shooting stars of growth.

Data from iResearch, an online data analysis and consulting company, show that China’s short video content market was worth 5.73 billion yuan last year, with the figure projected to top 30 billion yuan in 2020.

Since 2005, the National Copyright Administration of China has conducted an annual campaign, called Internet Sword, which aims to tackle online copyright infringement.

Last year, thousands of websites were shut down and links to offending sites deleted in the latest battle against intellectual property infringement.

China has also launched a series of policies on IPR protection, updated laws and regulations and severely punished violations.