BEIJING, Dec. 21 -- China is calling for a joint effort by the government, copyright industry and private enterprises to fight media piracy.
Government officials, NGO representatives, Internet operators and experts from both China and the U.S. attended a forum on Sino-U.S. Internet copyright protection Friday in Beijing, raising possible measures regarding the healthy development of the Internet.
Last month, Chinese authors took search engine Google to court after their works were scanned into its digital library without permission.
Maureen B. Collins, an assistant professor at the John Marshall Law School, said the biggest problem with Google and its efforts to digitalize books was that it ignored copyright laws and regulations.
Both China and the U.S. held an attitude of cooperation and signed a memorandum of understanding on copyright last year, said Ke Heng, a senior consultant from the Jones Day Beijing Representative Office.
Kou Xiaowei, deputy director of the science and digital publishing division at the State Copyright Administration, suggested enacting a regulation on the legal use of digital copyright, aside from the current Copyright Law and Regulations for the Protection of the Right of Communication through Information Network.
Zhang Hongbo, deputy director-general of China Written Works Copyright Society, said, "The current regulations can't meet the development of modern information technol-ogy and the copyright industry."
A new platform for online copyright trading was urged.
It is necessary to establish a digital copyright trading platform to contain information about copyright owners, authentication and trade negotiations, Kou said.
"We used to set up copyright agents, but it turned out not as good as we thought," Kou said. "I think we can mobilize social forces to develop a suitable business model."
Friday's forum was one of an increasing number of conferences and forums about on-line copyright held in China.
Wang Yefei, deputy director-general of the National Copyright Administration, said earlier that the government is keen on holding conferences on copyrights, not because the situation in China is more serious, but because solving the problem has hit many roadblocks.
More than 300 illegal websites have been shut down since August, said Wang Ziqiang, an official with the National Copyright Administration. 
                                                                                                        Source: Xinhua