Abstract:  Neighbouring right, an important part of the generalized copyright architecture, can be traced back to the Roman law era. Due to its statutory status and diverse types, neighbouring right has attracted the  academic attention from the very beginning. However, there has been neither consensus among scholars on its origin and essence, nor responses from China’s copyright legislation. The existing theory of the copyright law has failed to fully explore the normative significance of the neighboring right system due to the lack of systematic guidance of law doctrine, thus subjected to criticism. In view of this, the origin and essence of neighboring right is discussed and the common normative effect on all kinds of neighbouring rights is explored and emphasized. In so doing, we aim to better grasp the similarities and differences between the neighboring right and the copyright in the narrow sense, seek the value guidance within the limit of the expansion of the neighbouring right, and supplement and perfect the theoretical system of the copyright law.

Key words: neighbouring right, copyright in the narrow sense, generalized copyright, originality