Page 307 - A Study on the Role of UGC Platforms in Copyright Law：An Intermediary-oriented Approach

A Study on the Role of UGC Platforms in Copyright Law: Appendix 8 Interview Record (Participant G)
An Intermediary-oriented Approach

Participant G: Haha, I just attended a conference discussing this issue yesterday. It is very
controversial. Most scholars and judges argued that our collective rights organizations
have monopolistic control over copyright owners. The lack of competition makes
collective organizations inefficient in protecting copyright owners. In contrast, two
representatives from Music Copyright Society of China and China Film Copyright
Association contended that the collective rights organizations are natural monopolies
rather than administrative monopolies. Due to the extremely high fixed costs, having just
one supplier can deliver the most cost-efficient outcome. They suggested that the courts
should disallow the litigations brought by copyright owners themselves. Even if private
litigation is allowed, the damages the copyright owner obtains should not be higher than
the compensation given by collective organization under the same circumstances. This
was the first time I heard of such bold suggestion. Why should the courts follow their
standards? They are merely organizations!
I think the biggest problem concerning collective rights organizations is not monopoly itself,
but our painful history of autarchy. We subconsciously reject any monopoly, whether
natural monopoly or administrative monopoly. The key to combatting this prejudice is
to establish supporting mechanisms. Before that, we had better encourage competition
rather than monopoly.
This is similar to the whole-nation system for competitive sports, which is widely discussed
in recent days. Sports in U.S. and U.K. also involve a large amount of government
investment. However, Chinese whole-nation system is intensively criticized due to our
painful history of autarchy and the lack of supporting mechanisms to coordinate between
competitive sports and extensive fitness programs for the general public.

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