Principle of Balance of Interests of Copyright System

The balance of interests mainly includes two levels: one is the level of work creation, that is, the balance of interests between authors and between authors and investors; The second is the level of work dissemination, that is, the balance of interests between obligees and users, and between authors and investors. In the legal relationship of copyright, there are inevitable direct conflicts of interest among obligees, disseminators and readers. From the perspective of the obligee, the copyright owner hopes that the copyright law system will provide a wide range, high degree and long-term protection for the intellectual achievements created by him, so as to obtain a kind of near monopoly right. For the public, they hope to use these intellectual achievements at a lower cost and cost. However, the creation of any work is a re creation activity based on the previous works. There is no new work in the world. The creator himself is the user of the work. Their creation is inseparable from the Enlightenment of previous materials and ideological sparks. If the copyright law weakens the protection of the author’s rights, the obligee may pay his intellectual labor without corresponding return, thus losing the passion and motivation of creation. On the contrary, if too much emphasis is placed on the protection of copyright owners, the scope and conditions for the public to use and learn from works will be strictly limited. Eventually, the creation of future generations will be unable to make use of the previous works, which will dry up the source of people’s intellectual creation. Even with the passion of creation, but without the ability of creation, it is impossible to realize the value concept of copyright law.

This needs to seek the best balance between the two through the design of copyright legal system, so as to realize the balance of various interests. The principle of balance of interests can not only ensure and encourage the author’s creative passion, but also respect the rights of communicators and readers. It takes “fairness” and “efficiency” as the value goal. On the one hand, it gives the obligee a certain exclusive right to encourage the author’s creative enthusiasm. This kind of control right, which is similar to monopoly, means the guarantee of obtaining economic interests and respect for personality and spiritual rights, for which interests are the best incentive mechanism.

On the other hand, according to the value concept of fairness and justice, the monopoly rights of obligees need to be limited to a certain extent and scope. One of the important purposes of creation is to promote the dissemination and application of works, so as to increase human happiness and public welfare. Copyright is not only the right of authors, but also the right of publishers and readers. Suppose there are only two people in a small society, that is, an author and a publisher. When the author creates a work, does copyright mean anything to the author? The answer can only be negative. A work has no readers, and the value of copyright to the author (if the theory of automatic generation of copyright after creation is applied) is almost zero. Suppose a publisher is added after the work is completed, does copyright make sense? The answer is still No. Because no one buys, the author’s interests cannot be reflected. Only when the author, publisher and reader exist at the same time, and everyone participates in the creation, dissemination and reading of the work, can copyright really make sense.

The above discussion discusses the relationship among authors, communicators and readers according to the principle of interest balance. It is not only the purpose and goal of constructing the copyright legal system, but also the purpose and goal of applying the copyright legal system to the digital library. Of course, the principle of interest balance and the analysis of interest balance guided by it are only a macro theoretical idea and abstract and principled analysis. In order to balance the interests of authors, communicators and readers, we must also formulate operational, specific and clear measures to implement.

 

2. The Embodiment of The Principle of Balance of Interests in The Copyright System

The copyright legal system has a strong historical continuity, which can be traced back to the British Queen Anna act in the early 18th century. In the process of its historical development, the practical operation of the principle of balance of interests has accumulated a lot of valuable experience. It has effectively prevented the polarization of rights and completed the important mission that can not be realized and completed by other principles in the copyright legal system. The author’s legitimate rights and interests have been protected and their creative passion has been stimulated. At the same time, it also provides an institutionalized basis for the public to use the works of predecessors, so that the source of human creation continues and develops. Therefore, the copyright laws of various countries and the international conventions on copyright implement the principle of balance of interests, endow the creators and disseminators of works with monopoly and exclusive rights within a certain range, and enable the obligees to control the works they have paid the fruits of their labor accordingly. It also uses public power to restrict private rights in a certain range, so that the public can also obtain the works they need, so as to promote the progress of science and technology and the prosperity of culture. For example, the foreword of the Berne Convention clearly stipulates that the member states of the League shall, as far as possible, effectively and consistently protect the rights to their literary and artistic works. The preface of the agreement on trade related aspects of intellectual property rights of the world trade organization also stipulates that the purpose of protecting public interests emphasized in the systems of countries protecting intellectual property rights is recognized, including development purpose and technical purpose. Article 7 of The Agreement stipulates that the protection and exercise of intellectual property rights shall be aimed at promoting technological innovation, technology transfer and technology dissemination, promoting the mutual benefit of producers and users of technological knowledge in a way conducive to social and economic welfare, and promoting the balance of rights and obligations. In the general provisions, China’s copyright law clearly stipulates the specific normative provisions of the principle of balance of interests. Article 1 stipulates that this law is formulated in accordance with the constitutional law in order to protect the copyright of authors of literary, artistic and scientific works and the rights and interests related to copyright, encourage the creation and dissemination of works conducive to the construction of social spiritual and material civilization, and promote the development and prosperity of social, cultural and scientific undertakings.

Therefore, almost all countries and international organizations are implementing the principle of balance of interests in their copyright legal system and determining it through more specific normative provisions. Therefore, the relationship between the reader and the creator of communication can be protected. Therefore, when analyzing the principle of balance of interests, we should adhere to the following guiding ideology:

First, when reflecting the goal of balancing interests, the copyright legal system must adhere to the primary guiding ideology of protecting the private rights of creators. The copyright recognized by law is a monopoly right enjoyed by individuals. When the principle of balance of interests is implemented in the copyright legal system, it enables creative authors and competitive groups to invest in the research and development of works. Only when the author creates rich works, can people promote the development of culture and art, have works to use, and have the premise and foundation for continuous creation. Therefore, the subjective pursuit of maximizing their own interests has objectively promoted the promotion of civilization.

Second, the biggest difference between intellectual property and tangible property is that it is the right to certain types of knowledge and information. Specifically, when it comes to copyright law, it is to protect the Ideological Expression in the fields of science, literature and art. In the sense of economics, such knowledge and information constitute public assets, which can not be monopolized by individuals in essence and are not exclusive in use. In the historical development of copyright, it has been proved that the protection of private rights by law has provided a strong impetus and incentive for the progress of human society, economy, technology and culture. The guidelines of the Berne Convention also clearly point out that; The higher the level of protection in the field of copyright, the greater the encouragement to the author’s creation, and the more intellectual creation a country has. The more works in the field of literature and art, the more products as additional products in the book, record and entertainment industries.

Third, intellectual creation is the basic premise of social, economic and cultural development. Although the principle of interest balance should first stimulate and protect private rights. However, paying attention to the protection of public interests is a rational restriction and restraint on the protection of private rights. The development of human society is carried out in imbalance, which is not only in the economic field, but also in the fields of literature, art and science. And this imbalance is objective, even natural. If we only emphasize the protection of private rights, it will certainly make this imbalance more obvious. Therefore, the excessive expansion of private rights must be restrained by public interests.

It should be noted that people have different talents, abilities, wealth and opportunities. In the process of creating works, different copyrights may appear, so as to enjoy widely different monopoly interests. Of course, this is reasonable to encourage the creation of works. However, no one can say that his higher talent is deserved. If the distribution of talent is regarded as a shared asset and a shared distribution benefit, the works of intellectual achievements cannot be enjoyed exclusively by the obligee, but should take into account all those who fail to obtain the creation. Make institutional arrangements so that the public can learn and use the work under certain conditions to promote social and public welfare.

To sum up, the principle of interest balance is to protect private rights and restrict private rights with public interests, so as to achieve a dynamic balance. The analysis of the embodiment of the principle of balance of interests in the copyright legal system is conducive to grasping the key of the case when dealing with and studying the specific cases of copyright disputes. Especially in the absence of clear provisions in the law, the safe way is to take the principle of balance of interests as the guidance to deal with and answer the cases fairly. At the same time, the implementation of the principle of balance of interests is also conducive to the construction and improvement of the legal system related to copyright applicable to the digital library. It is also very beneficial to integrate this principle into the construction of the digital library.

 

3. The Principle of Balancing Interests In the Internet Age

Due to the development of digital technology, especially the wide dissemination and application of digital works, the traditional copyright legal system has encountered extremely frequent challenges and shocks, and its specific legal provisions are difficult to apply directly. Some people believe that the core values of digital technology and the Internet era should be freedom, openness and information sharing. There is no copyright in the network environment. We believe that in the network era, the author’s written works have only changed the form of expression from the original paper carrier to the electronic media such as optical disk and magnetic disk, but the basic principles, systems and related concepts of copyright are still applicable. The traditional copyright law shows the works with tangible material carrier. The author has easy control over the works, and the carrier of its dissemination is also tangible. It can protect the economic interests of the obligee and protect the spiritual rights through the customs, industry and commerce, transportation and other departments according to the copyright law and relevant legal systems. However, works in the digital age have completely broken the expression form of traditional copyright works. Countless personal computers are connected with each other through the network information system, and the works travel freely on the network in the form of digital information. Therefore, the copyright owner’s control over the works must be completed through the network behavior, which makes the copyright legal system change from standardizing the real space to standardizing the cyberspace, and also leads to some provisions of the traditional copyright legal system. For this virtual space, there is nothing to do. The principle of balance of interests, as an abstract, rational and principled guiding ideology, is still applicable to cyberspace.

From the perspective of the public and social welfare, accelerating the flow of information is conducive to changing the objective reality of information asymmetry in society, meeting people’s demand for information, and promoting social development and people’s sharing of information. However, as a digital work with copyright, if it is allowed to flow and spread freely without restriction, it will directly affect the interests of copyright owners and frustrate their enthusiasm to create works. Eventually, there will be no works to spread, which will not only damage the public, but also hinder the progress and development of society. If the flow and dissemination of information are excessively restrained, it is not conducive to people’s learning and re creation, so as to go to the opposite of copyright protection. Therefore, in the digital era, the law should not destroy the balance between the interests of obligees and public interests, but should find a new balance between promoting sharing and protecting rights. This is the value concept of the principle of balance of interests in the network era. Promoting the sharing of human social information and protecting the private rights of copyright owners are the main melody of the principle of balance of interests in the digital era.

In short, the legislative purpose and basic principles of the copyright legal system have not changed in the network era, but people need to build a specific legal system according to the principle of interest balance to distribute the new interests brought by the network era, so as to achieve a win-win new balance. Digital library is the product of the development of network technology. It can collect a wide range of information resources, store a large number of digital works, and open to the public in the library’s cyberspace. It is also a model of the principle of balance of interests in the digital era. In order to adapt to the development of the digital era, school libraries and national libraries in some European and American countries have successively established digital libraries. The National Library of China and cities such as Shanghai and Guangdong have also begun the construction of digital libraries. However, people still have different views on the nature and function of Digital Library and the relationship between rights and obligations between copyright owners and the public. Experts and scholars of intellectual property rights have also carried out in-depth discussion and research. Under the guidance of the principle of balance of interests and in combination with the development of digital technology, the following is an analysis of the relevant legal problems encountered in the construction and development of Digital Libraries in the application of the relevant legal system of copyright.