Articles 46 and 48 draft version of the amendment of the Copyright Law of March 2012 sounded false in the ears of many musicians in China and abroad. After their respective protests and that of music industry interest groups the National Copyright Association of China (NCA) has decided to revise the draft before the end of the month.
What is all the noise about? ….
In ancient China there was a sophisticated alarm system with drums and flags to warn of approaching danger
According to article 46 Copyright Law (draft) everyone can use audio works three months after they have been published, without the need for authorisation of the copyright holder, as long as you pay a fee to a collective copyright society that will compensate the copyright holder as article 48 Copyright Law (draft) makes clear. See here.
This means that the copyright holder has the exclusive economic and moral rights over its audio work for only three months. After that period the copyright holder has the economic right to be compensated, but he also lost control over the height of the compensation. He has no moral right after three months, although it is in the possible that moral rights continue even after the expiration of copyright, but certainly are valid during the term of a copyright. China has moral rights.
So this makes it possible that anybody just waits three months and then uses the song for whatever purpose.
Let’s see whether these dissonant provisions will be changed into more melodious provisions.