试论美国海关对版权的保护及其特点

On the US Customs Copyright Protection and Its Features

美国版权产业所取得的巨大成就与其不断完善的版权保护制度密不可分。在众多的版权保护制度中,法律的作用显然最为重要。美国现行版权法赋予了美国海关保护版权的重要职责,但是它只能对进口环节的版权提供海关保护。一般情况下,版权的备案是获得海关保护的必要条件,而在版权侵权认定问题上,美国海关不仅在版权所有人与进口商之间保持着客观中立的地位,还承担着事实认定与法律认定的双重责任。

The great accomplishment achieved by the US copyright industry is closely related to its continually improving copyright protection system. Among the numerous copyright protection systems, law obviously plays the most important role. The current US copyright law grants the US Customs significant responsibility of copyright protection. Nevertheless, it only provides customs protection for the copyright related to import issues. Generally, recordation of the copyright is the necessary condition for it to get protection from the customs. As for the recognition of copyright infringement, the US customs not only maintains a neutral status between the copyright owner and the importer, but also shoulders the dual responsibilities of fact affirmation and legal identification.