英国论坛
11月9号,国家版权局公布了卡拉OK包厢费每天收取12元的标准,不想,立即遭致卡拉OK业主和部分网民的反对。请看《中国日报》相关报道:KTV operators have come out in opposition to the royalties imposed by the National Copyright Administration (NCA) earlier this month.
On November 9, the NCA set a daily royalty of 12 yuan (US$1.5) per KTV room in an effort to improve copyright protection. The fee is in effect in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou on a trial basis and is to be gradually implemented in other cities.
报道中的royalty在这里指“版权费”或“版税”。汉语中,版权费俗称版税,是对作者(如音乐作品人)的一种特别酬金。版税的内涵比稿酬宽。从其意义上讲,稿酬是与作为劳动的创作相对应的概念,而版税所对应的则是版权。
1557年,英格兰国王玛丽·图杜颁发给当时的出版公司许可证,相当于赋予出版公司一定的垄断权利。这就是版权的初次出现,也是版税制的最初来源。因此,英文里的“版税”和“皇室”(royalty)是同一个词。
用法上,royalty(版税)单复数均可,相比而言,更常见于复数。看两个例子:
The writer gets a 10% royalty on each copy sold of his book. (每卖一本书,作者可得10%的版税。作者从每本卖出的书中可得10%的版税。)
Fame and royalties descended upon him.(荣誉和版税一齐向他涌来。)