The people up top have just released a 60-point roadmap that includes a number of “Hollywood friendly” reforms related to the protection of Intellectual Property (IP) rights. That’s 60 things that could potentially go wrong. Sorry, excuse our pessimism. Let’s dig in a bit:
The reform outline was issued after a four-day, closed-door conclave of China’s top leaders earlier this month, interrupted only by light birdsong and the retrieval of the resident Ayi’s vacuum. It contains unprecedented, Earth-shattering policy shifts. Billboard loves it, and when you’re best buds with the folks that have been relentlessly lobbying for decades that makes perfect sense.
“China will strengthen protection of intellectual property rights, improve the mechanism to encourage innovation, and explore ways of setting up an IPR court,” the plan reads.
Following Billboard, a court to help protect against piracy is good news for film producers who incur major losses in China because of illegal downloads and pirate DVDs. But let’s cut to the chase: enforcement. An IP court? Sure, why not. But the market for pirated goods is lucrative and isn’t going to disappear any time soon. What does the U.S. want? A Hadopi: a panoptic system that scours every crook and cranny for copyright infringers and then disciplines them through fining and the removal of privileges.
In fact the only element of this plan that really piqued our interests was this:
“The government would also support various small and micro “cultural enterprises” to help them develop, and art troupes would be restructured to allow more private input.”
We’re all for the decentralisation of the creative industries and would rather efforts were prioritised toward bolstering the arts and nurturing a culture that accepts payment for experiences (recorded, live, online broadcasts, whatever) as the norm instead of penalising learned behaviours.
“There are few details as of yet, but the direction it contains makes this a ground-breaking reform plan.”
Could also be a load of old waffle. Decide for yourselves.