A Study On The Definition And Copyright Attribution Of Audiovisual Works In The Context Of The Revision Of Copyright Law

With the development of science and technology,the filming technology of audiovisual works is also constantly improving,and a large number of new audiovisual works have emerged,and the proportion of audiovisual works in the cultural industry is also increasing year by year.The production process of audiovisual works often involves multiple subjects,and the identification of the copyright owner of audiovisual works,i.e.the attribution of the copyright of audiovisual works,is a problem that needs to be solved urgently.To solve this problem,we need to start from the definition of audiovisual works,clarify the relevant rights and interests of various subjects,clarify the attribution system of the copyright of audiovisual works,and take into account the interests of various production subjects of audiovisual works.The third revision of the Copyright Law introduced the term "audiovisual works" to replace the term "cinematographic works and works created by methods similar to the filming of films" in the old law,but the final publication of the Copyright Law did not give a definition of audiovisual works,which This will lead to difficulties in the recognition of audiovisual works in practice.In Article 17 of the newly amended Copyright Law on the attribution of copyright of audiovisual works,"audiovisual works" are internally divided into two types of works and different rules of copyright attribution apply,among which the copyright of "films and TV series works" is directly attributed to the producer,but the producer itself is not the owner of the works.The copyright of "movies and TV series" is directly attributed to the producer,but the producer itself is not the subject of creation of such type of works.Such a way of attribution of rights is contrary to the principle that copyright is enjoyed by the author as established in Article 11 of China’s Copyright Law,and lacks the transition of presuming the producer as the author first and then granting him the copyright.In addition,the application of the special copyright attribution rules of agreed priority to "other audiovisual works" also makes it difficult for third parties to clarify the actual copyright owners of other audiovisual works,which will be detrimental to the market circulation of other audiovisual works and unduly increase the transaction costs of such works,and the special ownership rules of such works are also the same as the rules of ownership.The special ownership rules of such works also conflict with the application of the rules for commissioned works with the same ownership rules of agreement.Although the current amendment of the Copyright Law has revised the term "producer" to "producer",it does not stipulate the concept or recognition criteria of producers of audiovisual works at the legislative level,and the problem of inconsistent recognition of producers in practice remains unresolved.In view of the above problems,based on the analysis of the relevant legislative systems of international treaties,copyright law countries and authorship law countries,this paper proposes the improvement of the copyright of audiovisual works based on the combination of the useful legislative experiences of foreign countries and the national conditions of China,so as to clarify the expression form of audiovisual works and introduce the system of "presumption of transfer" to rationalize the rights of producers.The proposal is to clarify the logic of the producer’s original enjoyment of the copyright of "movie and TV series works",clarify that the agreement between the creator and the producer shall not be against the bona fide third party,clarify that the rights attribution rules of Article 17（2）of the Copyright Law shall still apply to other audiovisual works on commission,and clarify the connotation and extension of the producer and the recognition criteria,so as to solve the problems of the recognition of audiovisual works and the producer in practice.It also clarifies the connotation and extension of the producer and the criteria for determining the producer,so as to solve the problems in the recognition of audiovisual works and the producer in practice,alleviate the obstacles to the transaction and dissemination of "other audiovisual works" due to their special ownership system,and alleviate the conflicts in the application of the rules on the attribution of copyright to "other audiovisual works" and commissioned works.