Intellectual Property and Copyrights Issues in China Essay -- Software

Intellectual Property and Copyrights Issues in China 1. Introduction China had made great improvement in deregulation and had complied with its obligations to follow rules and agreements such as Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) as a new member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 2001. TRIPS introduced intellectual property rules into the multilateral trading system. It ensures that computer programs will be protected as literary works under the Berne Convention and outlines how databases should be protected under copyright section. As the rush to riches continues to gain pace, people's legal right to own private property is protected by a law. However, Intellectual property and copyrights still remained inadequate to control over its booming internet population in China. Before we get into copyright status in China and ethical issues, clarification of terminology will help us to understand copyrights issues in software and differentiated other issues involving intellectual properties. 1) Classification of software  ·Commercial  ·Shareware  ·Freeware  ·Public Domain In terms of restrictions and limitations, each classification is different. Commercial software can be purchased from software publishers, computer stores, etc. When you buy software, you acquire a license from the company that owns the copyright to use it not own it. Although one archival copy of the software can be made, the backup copy cannot be used except when the original package fails or is destroyed. Shareware has same restriction as commercial software except that the copyright holders allows you to make copies of the software, but you must pay if you adopt it for use after testin... ...ies put effort to enhance confidence of foreign investors to protect intellectual property rights and recognizes illegal piracy actions. 5. References 1)Mark Alfino, Intellectual Property and Copyright Ethics, Business and Professional Ethics Journal, Vol.10 No.85, p 85-109 http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/alfino/dossier/Papers/COPYRIGH.htm 2)Wang Xiaodong, Editor, Strategy and Management, China and the World (Zhongguo yu shijie), November 1999 http://www.uscc.gov/researchreports/2000_2003/pdfs/itisri.pdf 3)Tech Support at University of Chicago, Using Software, February 1995 http://courses.cs.vt.edu/~cs3604/lib/WorldCodes/EDUCOM.software.html 4)World Trade Organization, http://www.wto.org/ 5)BBC NEWS, http://www.bbc.com/ 6)Bill Thomson, From code war to Cold War, BBC NEWS, March 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/l/hi/technology/3537165.stm