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(l) the category of right licensed for exploitation of the work covered by the license;
(2) the exclusive or non-exclusive nature of the right to exploit the work covered by the license;
(3) the geographic area and term of the license;
(4) the standard of remuneration and the method of payment;’
(5) the liability in case of breach of the contract; and
(6) any other matter that the contracting parties consider necessary.
In developing a database one major question the digital library confronted is how to make contacts with numerous copyright owners so as to acquire the permission from them. In practical operation, it is impossible for compiler to conclude the licensing contract with obligee one by one. So a practicable mode for solving this question is to authorize an organization of collective administration to arrange matters concerning copyright with copyright owners. At present, organ assuming functions of collective administration on copyright in China is the Copyright Protection Center of China (CPCC). Established in Beijing in 1998, CPCC is composed of several former collective management organizations on copyright such as the Copyright Agency of China (CAC), the Software Registration Center of China (SRCC), the Remuneration Collection and Distribution Center for the Use of Copyright of China (RCDCUCC). The main functions of CPCC include:
1. Copyright Registration: responsible for the registration of copyright in computer software, registration of pledge contracts on copyright, registration of copyright in various published works, verification and registration of publishing contracts of imported audio-video products, and public information.
2. Copyright Agency: to organize various negotiations on copyright trade home and abroad; to offer information and consultation services related to copyright trade; to act as an agent for copyright owners upon the latter’s request, and to provide the service of selecting subjects of works to be published; to collect and distribute the remuneration for the use of copyright as entrusted by the copyright owners and users of the published works.
3. Legal Services: to offer legal consultations, mediation of copyright disputes and attorney for copyright litigation, and to offer long-standing legal services for copyright owners and organizations of copyright industry.
4. Copyright Authentication: To offer technological authentication for copyright disputes as entrusted by various judicial authorities and copyright administrations.
5. To offer information services on protection of copyright, to collect and disseminate various copyright protection information and to carry out copyright trade by e-commerce.
6. To edit and publish the journal China Copyright.
7. To carry out propagation work on the legal knowledge of copyright and to organize training for staff of the copyright industry.
8. To carry out other work related to copyright protection and copyright services.
Does everything in relation to copyright be trusted to a collective management organ will be fine? It is not simplicity itself. Some cases involving copyright disputes of database decided recently by courts deserve digital library’s attention. On 16 March 2004 the Beijing University and other 10 universities and publishers in scientific and educational circles brought an action against VIP Information Company 21 on copyright infringement. The 11 plaintiffs complain respectively that the defendant, without plaintiffs’ permission, duplicates and compiles by means of scanning the periodicals published by plaintiffs into his digitalized product, the “Chinese Scientific and Technological Periodicals Database”, and sell it for profit. The plaintiffs hold that the defendant’s action has seriously encroached upon the copyright on their compilations and the exclusive right of typographical arrangement of their periodicals and claim defendant for bearing civil liability for such remedies as ceasing the infringing act and paying compensation for damages. But the defendant refuses the plaintiffs’ claim by saying that he has already signed a letter of authorization on copyright with the agent of the Remuneration Collection and Distribution Center for the Use of Copyright of China and a licensing contract on compiling digitalized product with the Copyright Protection Center of China in Chongqing municipality where the defendant is located and has paid for royalty. But the court did not adopted the defendant’s defense and held that the defendant did not lodge the proofs to certify that the plaintiffs are members of the collective administrative organ of copyright or they have entrusted the said organ to manage their copyright matters, so the defendant has not been regarded as having obtained the license from plaintiffs even if he had concluded the licensing contracts with the collective administrative organs. The first intermediate court of Beijing decided that the defendant’s action on compiling and selling the online version of the “Chinese Scientific and Technological Periodicals Database” has constituted an infringement and shall assume the legal responsibility of ceasing the infringing act and paying compensation for damages. From the judgement one may come to some conclusions: firstly, it does not belong to the sphere of statutory license to compile a full-text database by utilizing the works of a compilation; secondly, it does not to be consider as having acquired the right of using works by concluding a copyright licensing contract with collective administrative organ of copyright and paying the loyalty. It is important for a database compiler to ascertain in advance whether a copyright owner is a member of collective management organ of copyright and whether he has entrusted the said organ to manage his copyright matters, if not, once disputes is arisen, he will be put in a disadvantageous position.
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