 |
customer@davidpublishing.com |
 |
3275638434 |
 |
 |
| Paper Publishing WeChat |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Research on Copyright Protection for Chinese Web Novel Authors
ZHANG Yu, HAO Dingrui
Full-Text PDF
XML 162 Views
DOI:10.17265/1548-6605/2026.02.002
University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
Chinese web novel authors are confronted with two core dilemmas: the imbalanced interest distribution between platforms and authors, and the damage to the industry foundation caused by the “free-to-read” business model. The causes of the former lie in the declining status of authors in the cultural industry chain and the absence of provisions for substantive fairness in contracts under copyright law. While the latter helps address piracy and infringement in the web novel sector, it inflicts excessive harm on the industry and authors, making it unsuitable for the web novel field. China’s Copyright Law can draw on systems such as the transparency obligation to improve specific rules governing the substantive fairness of copyright contracts. Web novel platforms can also establish an official index directory to combat piracy by holding search engines accountable for secondary infringement, thus safeguarding the common interests of platforms and authors.
web novel, copyright contracts, “free-to-read” business model, copyright protection
ZHANG Yu, HAO Dingrui.Research on Copyright Protection for Chinese Web Novel Authors.US-China Law Review, Mar.-Apr. 2026, Vol. 23, No. 2, 77-86
Feng, S., & Chen, D. (2022). Free VS paid: The dilemma of the development of reading models in the web novel industry. View on Publishing, 28(12), 73-76.
Foucault, M. (2003). What is an author? In Reading architectural history (pp. 71-81). London: Routledge.
Kretschmer, M., & Hardwick, P. (2007). Authors’ earnings from copyright and non-copyright sources: A survey of 25,000 British and German writers. Bournemouth, UK: Bournemouth University.
Li, Y.-F. (2014). On the construction of the droit de suite system in China—Focusing on the third amendment of the copyright law. Science of Law (Journal of Northwest University of Political Science and Law), 32(1), 126-136.
Liang, Z.-W., & Li, Z.-C. (2019). On algorithmic creation. Journal of East China University of Political Science and Law, 22(6), 46-59.
Lin, X.-Q., & Liu, W.-X. (2015). Author-centrism and its crisis of legitimacy: A philosophical study based on the author’s rights. Journal of Yunnan Normal University (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition), 47(2), 83-92.
Shao, Y.-J., Xiao, Y.-X., & Ji, Y.-F. (2020). Web novels in 2019: Deep plowing in the soil of the fan economy. Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism, 6(1), 120-124.
Xiong, Q. (2020). The formulation of substantive fairness rules in copyright contracts. Law Science, 65(6), 47-62.
Xiong, Q. (2022). Rule selection and continuation of author’s rights protection in copyright contracts. Chinese Journal of Law, 44(1), 188-204.
Xu, G. (2020). Literary websites and authors [Forum post]. Lkong Forum. Retrieved from https://www.lkong.com/thread-2566106