Research on "Impeding" in Pre-litigation conduct preservation provision of the Copyright Law

Abstract

Article 56 of the current Copyright Law provides for the preservation of pre-litigation acts. Compared with Article 50 of the Copyright Law before the amendment, the main modification lies in the increase of the applicable circumstances of "Impeding the realization of its rights". This amendment extends the scope of application of pre-litigation copyright protection to the acts that impeding copyright owners from realizing their rights. However, the current law, relevant regulations and judicial interpretations do not provide for the meaning of "Impeding", and there is little discussion in the academic community. The vagueness of the term may create difficulties in its application. Therefore, the author analyses the meaning of the term "Impeding", taking into account the content and characteristics of the Civil Code and the Copyright Law. In the author's view, "Impeding the realization of its rights" shall mean that the actor has committed an act that endangers the copyright owner or the relevant right holder's enjoyment of both full ownership and the limited carrier of the copyrighted work. The judicial interpretation or relevant regulations should be made to further explain the provisions of the act of preservation.