China's online population has grown rapidly in recent years from just 620,000 in 1997. Independent forecaster Analysys International said earlier in 2005 it expected the total number of netizens in China to reach 134 million by late 2005. According to "2005 Special 301 Report" released by USTR concluding that infringement levels remain unacceptably high throughout China, in spite of Beijing's efforts to reduce them. Among other things, Internet piracy is quickly becoming the number one threat to the copyright industry. Therefore, this article tries to conduct a comprehensive survey on Chinese legal environment of online copyright protection, including introducing government policies, the recently enacted and amended relevant law and regulations, and discussing judicial views by doing some case studies as well. Finally, this article calls for China's corporation with her trading partners esp. the U.S. to work out to diminish the conflicts arising from IPR infringement disputes in China including the online aspect. Hopefully, A goal of "double or multiple wins" can be achieved thereafter.
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