SPC Amends Judicial Interpretation on Copyright Civil Disputes

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) recently issued the Decision on Amending the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Copyright Civil Dispute Cases (the "Decision"), with effect from September 1, 2026.

The Decision mainly involves: (1) further clarifying the criteria for determining whether a work has been made "available to the public"; (2) refining the rules on the application of fair use; and (3) clarifying the scope of application of the statutory license for the reprinting of works in newspapers and periodicals. Notably, the Decision replaces the expression "works of art in outdoor public places" in Article 18 of the previous judicial interpretation with "works of art in public places", thereby aligning with Item 10 Paragraph 1 of Article 24 of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2020). Meanwhile, the Decision also adds a proviso specifying that a person who reproduces a work of art in a public place by drawing, painting, photography or video recording may further use the resulting work in a reasonable manner and within a reasonable scope in accordance with the law; however, without the permission of the copyright owner, such person shall not install, display or publicly disseminate the resulting work in the same way.



(Source: https://www.court.gov.cn/zixun/xiangqing/509271.html)

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