Effective online copyright law a thorny issue

Princess Weiyang, a television drama adapted from an online novel, The Poisonous Daughter, has been caught in the vortex of copyright controversy since hitting TV screens with many netizens accusing the author of the "original work" of plagiarizing, even lifting entire chapters from, similar types of novels.

Such an accusation, if proved, will be another example of poor intellectual property rights protection of online works in the country, which, if not checked, would deal a blow to the development of the digital cultural market. Data from Tencent indicate the value of internet works, including IPR deals, was 420 billion yuan ($60.72 billion) in 2015 - and it is expected to cross 560 billion yuan this year.

Along with many benefits, the internet has also created difficulties for copyright protection. The reuse of traditional works on the internet in new forms, such as through digitalized disposal, show the efforts to protect copyright have not been fully successful. China started amending its copyright law for the third time in July 2011. A series of copyright dilemmas, such as combating cyber literature piracy, illegal online video aggregation, non-payment for music and live broadcasts of sports events, pose a major problem for the healthy development of the internet sector.