Enabling Chinese residents to file free copyright applications at home, a groundbreaking online registration system was unveiled last week in Chongqing that offers applications for copyrights, evaluation, protection, management and trading.

The DCAS system, the first of its kind nationwide, was developed by the copyright administration of Chongqing city and Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunication.

"In the past, an author couldn't apply for a copyright until the entire work was completed," said Xiong Zhihai, dean of the School of Law at the university and leading researcher of the system.

"But it might leak out beforehand and be pirated, and the author may not be able to prove that he is the actual creator," he said.

The system managed by the Copyright Protection Center of Chongqing now allows authors to reserve a copyright registration before works are actually finished.

"Even if the author writes only one paragraph, or just a title, he can upload it to the DCAS for the system to generate a record," Xiong said. "If disputes happen in the future, that record can be used as evidence to claim the copyright."

The records are provided by the home-developed Beidou Navigation System, which uses a technology to generate the registration time automatically and "stamp" it on the reservation certificate.The certificate can be saved in the system or the author's own computer, and can also be printed out.

He added that authors "don't have to worry if the works can be seen by other people when they are uploaded onto the system".

It uses a technology called secure hash algorithm to create a "fingerprint" for every entry, which can only be used by the author.

"It is like the ID number in digital works," Xiong explained. "Even the operators and managers of the system are not able to see the content."

The system accommodates applications for copyrights on articles, music, dramas, photographs, artwork, software and many other types of work.

zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/29/2012 page17)