Industry · New Deal

"Official Reply of the State Council on Approving the Provisional Adjustment and Implementation of Relevant Administrative Regulations and Departmental Rules and Regulations Approved by the State Council in Beijing" Guo Han [2021] No. 106
As of October 18, 2021, the first paragraph of Article 10 of the "Regulations on the Administration of Commercial Performances" in Beijing will be temporarily adjusted and implemented, which states that "foreign investors may establish performance brokerage institutions and performance venue operating units within China according to law, and may not establish literary and artistic performance groups." 33. The "Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2020 Edition)" prohibits investment in literary and artistic performance groups. "The implementation of the adjustment is to allow foreign investment in literary and artistic performance groups in Tongzhou Cultural Tourism Zone (which must be controlled by the Chinese party).".

2. Release of two radio and television and network audiovisual industry standards, including "Overall Architecture of Converged Media Cloud Platform for Radio and Television Stations"

On October 12, the State Administration of Radio and Television issued a notice on two radio and television and network audio-visual industry standards, including the "Overall Architecture of Radio and Television Converged Media Cloud Platform", approving two standard documents, including the "Overall Architecture of Radio and Television Converged Media Cloud Platform" and the "Radio and Television Converged Media Cloud Platform Interface Agreement", as recommended industry standards for radio and television and network audio-visual in the People's Republic of China.

"The 14th Five Year Plan for the Development of Radio, Television, and Network Audiovisual"

Recently, the State Administration of Radio and Television issued the "14th Five Year Plan" for the Development of Science and Technology in Radio, Television, and Network Audiovisual. Based on a new stage of development, implementing new development concepts, and constructing a new development pattern, the Plan takes technological self-reliance as the strategic support, and promoting high-quality and innovative development of radio, television, and online audiovisual as the theme. It clarifies the overall goals and strategic measures for the development of radio, television, and online audiovisual technology during the "14th Five Year Plan" period.

The Plan puts forward 24 main tasks, 70 specific measures, and safeguards for the implementation of the plan, centering on six directions: developing new business forms, cultivating new audio-visual products, building new platforms, reshaping new networks, creating new terminals, and building new support.

Jiangxi, Fujian, Heilongjiang, and other places have also successively released the "14th Five Year Plan" for the Development of Radio, Television, and Network Audiovisual, focusing on the two central tasks of achieving the deep integration of radio and television media and the construction of smart radio and television, and establishing their own development goals, key tasks, and key projects.

Hubei has issued the Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Prosperity and Development of the Provincial Network Audiovisual Industry and the Implementation Plan on Further Strengthening the Management of Radio, Television, and Network Audiovisual Programs

On October 15th, Hubei Broadcasting and Television Bureau issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Prosperity and Development of the Network Audiovisual Industry in the Province", proposing guiding principles, basic principles, and development goals for the "14th Five Year Plan" to promote the prosperity and development of the network audiovisual industry in the province, focusing on high-quality and innovative development of the network audiovisual industry in Hubei, focusing on improving the industrial system, cultivating market players, thriving content creation, and building a development platform Fifteen specific measures were proposed for five key tasks such as promoting integration and innovation, requiring propaganda and cultural departments at all levels in the province to attach great importance to the development of the online audio-visual industry, and to provide protection in strengthening organizational leadership, fiscal and financial support, talent cultivation, and optimizing the business environment.

On October 18th, Hubei Radio, Film and Television Bureau issued the "Implementation Plan for Further Strengthening the Management of Radio, Television, and Online Audiovisual Programs". The "Plan" aims to address the problems of illegal and immoral artists in literary and artistic programs, as well as the chaos of the "rice circle", the pan-entertainment trend, high price film remuneration, and exclusive flow viewing theory, and proposes work measures in the propaganda and mobilization stage, the cleaning and rectification stage, and the consolidation and promotion stage.

Lawyer · Analysis

The New Trend of Social Entertainment for Young People: The "Turning Point" Moment of Script Killing Industry

In recent years, Chamber of Secrets screenplay, as a newly emerging social role-playing reasoning game, has been deeply favored and sought after by young people. The reason why Chamber of Secrets script killing has become one of the most popular entertainment items for young people nowadays is that, in addition to being a game that immerses players in character playing, intense and stimulating brain burning reasoning, it is also a good social activity, and even strangers can become familiar through the association of characters in the script. However, with its rapid rise, some negative information such as script plagiarism, rampant piracy, and vulgar content also frequently appear in media outlets.

On March 29, led by the China Culture and Entertainment Industry Association, the Immersive Screenplay Entertainment Professional Committee was established, which is known as the "industry's first official association" in the industry, aiming to promote the further standardized development of copyright protection in the script killing market.

On November 9, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism issued the "Regulations on the Administration of Filing and Filing of Screenplay Killing in Shanghai's Secret Room (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), which publicly solicited opinions from the community on regulating the "Screenplay Killing" industry. This "Regulation" clearly stipulates that "scripts" are prohibited from promoting obscenity, pornography, gambling, violence, and other content. At the same time, it also stipulates that business units in the secret script killing industry should conduct self examination and record keeping of scripts used in their operations.

It can be seen from this that both the establishment of industry associations and the issuance of regulations on the management of content filing and registration by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism mark the official entry of a critical period in the "barbaric growth" of the secret script killing industry, whose "inflection point" moment has arrived, entering the stage of the waves scouring the sand.

In the face of the current industry development trend and industry regulation, as for the core content of the script killing industry - "script", from a legal perspective, it is recommended that the business units of the script killing industry fully consider and actively take the following measures:

1. We must resolutely avoid triggering the "negative list" of the Regulations, and avoid promoting obscenity, pornography, gambling, violence, and drug related content.

2. Submit the self reviewed script to the Bureau of Culture and Tourism for filing in strict accordance with relevant regulations.

3. Timely handle script copyright registration to provide basis and convenience for subsequent proof of rights and rights protection.

The revised Copyright Law, which came into effect on June 1, 2021, revised the definition of "work" and expanded its scope of protection. Screenplays belong to the category of written works and are protected by law. Therefore, a script can be registered as a written work for copyright registration.

4. In the event of piracy, one should actively safeguard one's rights.

According to the relevant provisions of the Copyright Law, works of Chinese citizens, legal persons, or organizations without legal personality, whether published or not, enjoy the principle of automatic protection of copyright in accordance with this Law. Therefore, even if there is no copyright registration, it does not affect the acquisition of copyright. In case of piracy, legal measures should be taken to actively protect rights.