In order to protect their own interests, publishers began to seek special protection different from ordinary property. In the Song Dynasty, after the catalogue of "A Brief Introduction to the East Capital" carved by Cheng Sheren, there was a rectangular card that read: "Meishan Cheng Sheren House Journal. I have applied to the boss, and plagiarism is not allowed. " The meaning is very clear, that is, this book is published by himself and has been reported to the relevant departments for the record, and no one can copy or reprint it. This is a written record of copyright protection, which shows that publishers (or authors) are trying to monopolize the rights and interests of works, and the concept of copyright is budding. In Song Dynasty, Duan Changwu registered that "copying notarization is forbidden" in his Thirty Poems of Cong Guimao. That is, it has been registered and includes legal protection. The publisher (or author) Duan Changwu also put forward "reasons for prohibiting reprinting": first, "I spent my whole life working hard on this book"; Second, "in a word, you are full of inventions, and the rate will be recorded"; Third, "the calibration is the most accurate"; The last and most important reason is that if other publishing houses are addicted to profit-seeking and piracy, "it will be easy from beginning to end and will increase the meaning." To this end, he specially gave imperial academy a "license" to prove that it was his "invention", forbidding others to copy it, and giving the publisher the power to "split the pirated version and execute it according to the crime" against other pirates. It can be seen that Mr. Duan Changwu cherishes the publication of his works very much, and will never give others any coveted space, and he has a strong sense of copyright protection.
And 1000 years ago, in the Song Dynasty, the permission for this kind of copyright protection application only belonged to the government's administrative asylum, not from the system protection (also impossible). This kind of copyright protection only comes from individuals, places and regions (such as areas that can be monitored at any time in imperial academy), and it is unlikely to be popularized on a large scale. Therefore, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, A Dream of Red Mansions, The Journey to the West and Water Margin were widely published after their publication. Of course, they were loved by people because of their readability, and then various versions appeared. Perhaps, in China, a country that has never had a sense of rule of law and jurisprudence in traditional culture, these four classic novels have been widely circulated, which is related to this.
Due to Chinese mainland's weak legal awareness, and even knowing that infringement is wrong, many people disregard the law and engage in piracy activities in many industries, from books to movies, music, brand-name clothes, leather goods and toys to so-called "cottage phones". The biggest purpose is naturally to illegally obtain economic benefits.