动漫博览会促进创造力和版权保护

Getting creative and protecting your rights. These are the two aspects the 6th China international animation copyright fair is promoting. Let's head south to the city of Dongguan to find out what's being done to protect copyright in China.

Copyright infringement has been a major issue in China's animation industry, and is a major roadblock to creativity. The government is hoping to change that through this animation fair.

Booths are set up to provide services to those who want to register their work for copyright protection.

One of the beneficiaries of the increasing protection of copyrights is the cartoon character  "Zhuaimao" , or "Cool Cat."
"Cool Cat" has been part of the animation fair since it began, and business has grown considerably.

"Back in 2006 we occupied a tiny space here, now our section covers an area of 100 square meters. That's thanks to the level of protection we got for our copyright. Piracy of our products on the internet is reported to the authorities by internet service providers, so our quality products go down well with consumers," said exhibitor Lin Guoshen.

Creativity is encouraged at the fair. In the past, many Chinese factories made derivative products of cartoon characters, but their revenues were limited because they had to pay royalties to the owners of the characters.

"We make furniture for children, and cartoon themed furniture sells well. But we have to pay large fees to their copyright owners abroad. It's about 18% of our income. But then we started getting creative and partnered with a Chinese animation studio, and created our own animated characters. So now we don't have to pay royalties to anyone else, and we are even authorizing our copyright to foreign companies and making extra income," Lin said.

Analysts believe this could be a path for Chinese companies to develop, based on home-grown creativity. And they are certainly growing in strength. More than 108 Chinese animation companies took part in the fair, and they all hope to find new opportunities for the future.