The utility of transplanted CMOs: do China’s collective copyright management organizations deliver market benefits?

Abstract

In most developing countries, collective copyright management organizations (CMOs) have historically been introduced from abroad through a process of legal transplantation. This historical path is markedly dissimilar to the original domestic conception and evolution of CMOs in western markets during the analogue era and has had ramifications for the utility of transplanted CMOs. This article critically appraises both the historical and contemporary utility of transplanted CMO institutions in China’s music industry and demonstrates the limitations legal transplantation has had on the CMOs’ ability to adequately address market considerations. In doing so, the article contends that pre-existing deficiencies in China’s early competition law regime—in combination with the limited capacity of enforcement authorities—significantly curtailed the early efficacy of transplanted CMOs in comparison to their western counterparts. Moreover, continued contemporary developmental lags in competition law enforcement have allowed powerful industry actors greater opportunities for vertical integration in copyright-related industries, further curtailing the ability of CMOs to deliver market benefits. The article concludes with an examination of whether Chinese CMOs now face obsolescence when confronted by the development of modern collective user participation in the context of social network platforms—a phenomenon which has increasingly generated additional transactional value and has further curtailed the traditional market justifications for CMO institutions.