مكتب الويبو في الصين: بناء نظام إيكولوجي لحقوق المؤلف الموسيقية في عصر الذكاء الاصطناعي — التركيز على الإبداع والنشر وحماية الملكية الفكرية

The WIPO Office in China (WOC), in collaboration with the China Audio-Video Copyright Association (CAVCA), co-hosted a thematic event titled “From Creation to Dissemination: Building a Music Copyright Ecosystem in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”, as part of the 2025 World Intellectual Property Day celebrations. The event featured opening remarks from Ms. Liu Hua, Director of WOC, and Mr. Tang Zhaozhi, Deputy Director General of the Copyright Department of the National Copyright Administration of China.

In her remarks, Ms. Liu noted that the world is undergoing profound transformation on a scale not seen in a century, with two major waves of innovation, "Digital Era" and "Deep Science", reshaping the global landscape. At this critical juncture of epochal change, the discussion of the 2025 World IP Day theme, “IP and Music,” is both timely and pertinent. She highlighted WIPO Director General Daren Tang's recent visit to China, during which he acknowledged China’s cultural innovation achievements, including Black Myth: Wukong and Ne Zha 2, recognized China's leading position in the PCT, Hague and Madrid Systems, and noted China's status as the world's top exporter of creative products. She went on to emphasize that five video entries from China were selected among the global top 20 in the 2025 World Intellectual Property Day Youth Video Competition, encouraging broader youth participation in this initiative.

Ms. Liu outlined that WIPO Office in China will continue providing enabling support across five key priorities: (1) promoting participation of Chinese stakeholders in WIPO's Global Conversation on IP and Frontier Technologies; (2) disseminating China's IP best practices globally; (3) optimizing WIPO's database systems and service platforms; (4) leveraging WIPO's cooperation mechanisms to deepen international partnerships; and (5) encouraging use of WIPO Academy, WIPO for Creators and CLIP platforms for capacity building.

Mr. Tang emphasized that CMOs must seize new opportunities and address emerging challenges in light of the transformative impact of emerging technologies such as AI. This includes leveraging AI and big data to enhance management efficiency and establish a modern governance framework. At the same time, CMOs should strengthen their public service functions to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all stakeholders and to deliver more high-quality works. He also called for deeper international cooperation to share the benefits of technological innovation and to jointly advance the global copyright landscape.

During the keynote session, Mr. Michel Allain, Copyright IT Manager of Copyright Management Division of WIPO’s CCIS, noted that while streaming has become the primary source of revenue for the music industry, challenges remain in processing large volumes of data and ensuring accurate copyright distribution. Mr. Zhang Jing, Chief Representative of International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) Beijing Office, warned that AI-generated content could lead to a sharp decline in creators' income—by an estimated 24% in music and up to 56% in audiovisual sectors—and urged for legislation to clarify authorization requirements for AI training data. Mr. Feng Gang, Chief Judge of the Judicial Supervision Division of Beijing Intellectual Property Court, advocated for including AI-generated works within the copyright protection system, albeit with a lower threshold than human-created works, and stressed the importance of clarifying copyright compliance boundaries during the training phase.

Mr. Li Tao, Associate Professor from the Central University of Finance and Economics School of Law analyzed the EU’s experience, suggesting that the AI-music challenge could be addressed through industry analysis, optimized licensing agreements, and rights enforcement. Ms. Guo Chunfei, Director of the Music Industry Legal Committee of the Beijing Culture and Entertainment Law Society, proposed establishing a revenue-sharing mechanism for AI training data and advocated for statutory licensing or equitable remuneration to protect the rights of non-members. Ms. Zou Xiaoman, Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer of Kanjian Music, called for a dual approach of “protection and guidance”, including clearer standards for determining AI-related infringements, as well as exploring innovative use cases such as AI-assisted creation and copyright co-ownership, to promote a virtuous cycle between technological advancement and industry regulation.

In his concluding remarks, Mr. Zhou Yaping, Vice Chairman and Director General of CAVCA, stressed that AI-generated musical works have become an undeniable reality meeting all criteria for copyright protection, while highlighting the legal complexities surrounding authorship and ownership due to AI's non-human status. He proposed implementing content labeling systems to identify AI-generated works and establishing royalty distribution mechanisms through CMOs that would primarily benefit copyright holders whose works were used as AI training data, thereby ensuring equitable benefit-sharing. Mr. Zhou further emphasized the urgent need for specialized AI legislation to both foster technological innovation and safeguard the rights of all stakeholders in this evolving landscape.

The seminar was attended by nearly 100 representatives from government agencies, international organizations, industry associations, and members of the CAVCA.