Copyrights

Basic Information  |  Enforcement  |  Documents Needed to Register Copyright Work

Basic Information

Legal basis for protection
Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, effective 1st June 1990, as mended and effective 27th October 2001. Implementing Regulations of the Copyrihgt Law, effective 1st June 1990, as amended and effective 15th September 2002.

The status of foreign national and stateless person and their works
The work of foreign national and stateless person is granted copyright protection in line with the agreement of his home country or country of habitual residence with the People's Republic of China or international treaties to which both are parties. The work of foreign national or stateless person first published in the Chinese territory is granted copyright protection in China as provided by the law. However, if the work of the author whose home country has not entered an agreement with China or is not a member of an international treaty to which both are parties or if the work of a stateless person is first published in a member country of an international treaty to which China is a party, or if first published in a member country and a non-member country simultaneously shall be granted copyright protection as provided in this law.

Voluntary registration of copyright work
While copyrights do not have to be registered in order to be enforceable in China, it is, however, advisable to register such rights with relevant authorities. Such registration will be prima facie evidence of copyrights and will substantively save time and cost in proving ownership in litigation particularly in case of urgency.

Subjects of copyright Protection
Works to be protected including literary, artistic, natural science, social science and engineering and technological works inn the following forms:
1). Written works;
2). Oral works;
3). Musical, theater, qiyi (Chinese comic conversation), dancing, acrobatic works;
4). Fine art and architectural works;
5). Photographic works;
6). Cinematographic works and works created by means similar to cinematographic means;
7). Engineering designs and drawings, product designs and drawing, maps, sketch drawings and other drawing and modeling works;
8). Computer software;
9). Other works provided by laws and regulations.

Status of collecting society
Owners of copyrights and related rights may authorize copyright collecting society to enforce copyrights and related rights. Having been authorized as such, the collecting society may claim the rights in its own name on behalf of owners of copyrights and related rights, and may participate in suits and arbitration activities relating to copyrights and related rights as a party. Copyright collecting society is a non-for-profit organization, its establishing, rights and obligations, the collecting and distribution of copyright license fees as well as the supervision and administration thereof shall be governed by a regulations to be separately stipulated by the State Council.

Subjects of copyrights
Copyrights include the following moral rights and property rights:
a. right of publication;
b. right of authorship;
c. right of alteration;
d. right of preserving integrity of the work;
e. right of reproduction;
f. right of lending;
g. right of exhibition;
h. right of performance;
i. right of projection;
j. right of broadcasting;
k. right of network dissemination;
l. right of film making;
m. right of adaptation;
n. right of translation;
o. right of compilation;
p. other rights that the author is entitled to.

Rights of compilation work (compiled work)
Compiling several works, parts of works or data per se not of the nature of works or other materials, and having an originality in the selection and arrangement of the contents of the compiled work shall be deemed a compilation work, without prejudice to the copyrights of the original authors, the copyright of which belongs to the person who compiles the work.

Term for copyright protection
The right of authorship, the right of alteration and the right of preserving integrity of the work are protected without any term. However, other rights are protected for fifty years after the death of the author or the death of the last co-author.

Protection of format designs of books and periodicals
Publishers may authorize others to use or prohibit others from using the format designs of books and periodicals. The term for protection of such rights is ten years, until 31st December of the tenth year after the first publication of books and periodicals with such format designs".

Rights of performers
Performers shall have the rights arising from the performance, including:
a. acknowledgement of his status as the performer;
b. protection of his performance against distortion;
c. authorizing others to televise and publicly disseminate the live performance, and receiving remunerations;
d. authorizing others to make sound and video recordings, and receiving remunerations;
e. authorizing others to reproduce and distribute sound and video recordings of his performance, and receiving remunerations;
f. authorizing others to disseminating the performance publicly by means of information network, and receiving remunerations.