China comes of age as protector of online literature
Report finds industry losses from piracy are shrinking by the year due to enforcement
China is becoming an increasingly friendly environment for the protection of online literature copy, according to a recent authoritative report on the subject.
The report on the country’s copyright protection in the so-called “pan-entertainment” sector, released by market research firm iResearch, focuses on the online literature, videos and music sectors and analyzes their progress in fighting infringements.
Due to piracy, the online literature industry in China reported combined losses of roughly 7.44 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) in 2017, the lowest over the past four years. The amount was 7.98 billion yuan in 2016, according to the report.
Given the breathtaking growth of the sector in recent years, the fall shows that piracy has lost its momentum in online literature in China, Xiong Hui, an analyst at iResearch, told China Intellectual Property News.
The change took place, because the Chinese government highly values creating an IP-friendly environment and enforcement officers have increased their efforts in fighting counterfeits and piracy, industry insiders said.
In its infancy, the online literature sector saw rampant piracy due to weak copyright awareness. Yet in 2010, the sector turned around, with increasing crackdowns on infringements and improved legal framework in service, the Beijing-based newspaper reported.
The IP-friendly environment, in turn, spurs further expansion of the online literature market and promotes the industry’s sustainable growth, industry observers added.
In 2017, the estimated size of the market jumped by 32.1 percent year-on-year to 12.76 billion yuan and total online subscription revenues in the country topped 10 billion yuan, the report found.
Both visits to related apps by consumers and their time spent on online reading were on a steady rise on a monthly basis, according to the report.
As the authorities continue cracking down on apps that offer piracy services, the losses to online literature on mobile devices will be checked further, Xiong said.
Another force behind the fight against online piracy is the growing copyright awareness and professional ethics of online players. They are campaigning for copyright protection and exploring a new path to fighting infringements.
Zhu Ruilong, a senior legal counsel at China Literature, a dotcom specializing in operating online reading portals, told the China Intellectual Property News that his company had developed a series of copyright management regulations, with popular platforms and creations under priority supervision, to increase the efficiency of rights protection.
The company monitors more than 10 literature portals. In 2016 and 2017, it identified and investigated about 800,000 links suspected of piracy a year.
Increasing protection awareness of both industrial peers and ordinary readers is another approach to improving the copyright environment.
In line with that approach, China Literature has publicized major cases it was involved in. It also joined an online literature copyright protection alliance in September 2016, as one of 33 founding members.
The industry’s self-discipline is key to improving the copyright environment, China Intellectual Property News quoted Suo Laijun, deputy director of the Copyright Protection Center of China, as saying.
Analyst Xiong Hui said: “We found that losses due to piracy accounted for 58.3 percent of the online literature market, far higher than 5.9 percent in the digital music market and 14.3 percent in the online video sector.”
Piracy in text is much easier and thus more serious than that in music and videos, experts said.
The piracy damage to the online literature industry is potentially devastating, Xiong said.
The report suggested the government increase crackdowns on infringers and roll out a blacklist of internet service providers involved in offering pirated novels and a “white list” of online literature works under key supervision.