Drama copyright protection: Inheritance or plagiarism?

A Symposium on Judicial Protection of Drama Copyright, sponsored by the Rights Advocacy Office of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC) and the IPR Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court and co-sponsored by Chinese Dramatists Association, was held in Beijing on August 26. Such topics as whether inheritance involves plagiarism and whether dramatists can make free use of historical data were hotly discussed.

Insufficient copyright protection on drama

China's law on copyright protection of drama still remains a significant challenge. Representatives from drama community, courts and universities discussed a wide range of topics, including dramatic works and their ownership of copyright, originality of drama script and dramatic music, ownership of drama performing rights, video products and products created in the same ways as films are produced and burden of proof.

In the late 1980s when China was drafting its copyright law, dramatic works were defined as dramatic script. Drama infringement was limited to script, that is, only the text of a drama could be protected but the ideas and materials gained no protection. However, it should be noted that what audience enjoy is actors' performance, so protecting only script is not enough, said Professor Liu Chuntian of Renmin University of China. 

Inheritance or plagiarism?

In addition, opera experts and practitioners have suggested that opera clothing as a tradition cannot be protected as intellectual property, which is different from fashion design. The imitation of opera is also a tradition and cannot be judged as plagiarism. Zhu Shaoyu, a well-known composer from Beijing Peking Opera Theatre, also presented his doubts on copyright to law experts. "If a kind of Qu tunes to be newly copyrighted, how many original tunes need to be modified? Does the determination of innovation or plagiarism depend on seconds and syllables as musical works adopt?" he asked.

At the meeting, drama experts also mentioned a widely concerned copyright lawsuit involving the drama of "Tianxiadiyilou" (The Best Tavern of the World) and the drama of "A Tale of Quanjude History". "Tianxiadiyilou" was accused of plagiarism as it was based on the development history of Quanjude. It finally lost the case but paid no compensation under the mediation of Beijing Municipal Copyright Office.

Law experts explained that "History Tale Series" are of creativity and thus are subject to copyright protection, the term of which can last for 50 years after the death of the author.