Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2020)
Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2020)
Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2020)
Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No.62
November 11, 2020
(Adopted at the 15th Session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on September 7, 1990; amended for the first time in accordance with the Decision on Revising the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on October 27, 2001; amended for the second time in accordance with the Decisions on Revising the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 13th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress on February 26, 2010; and amended for the third time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 23rd Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on November 11, 2020)
Table of Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Copyright
Section 1 Copyright Owners and Their Rights
Section 2 Ownership of Copyright
Section 3 Protection Period of the Rights
Section 4 Limitation of Rights
Chapter III Copyright Licensing and Transfer Contracts
Chapter IV Copyright-related Rights
Section 1 Publication of Books, Newspapers and Periodicals
Section 2 Performance
Section 3 Sound and/or Visual Recordings
Section 4 Broadcasts by Radio or Television Stations
Chapter V Protection of Copyright and Copyright-related Rights
Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Constitution") in order to protect the copyright of authors in their literary, artistic and scientific works and copyright-related rights and interests, encourage the creation and dissemination of works conducive to promoting the socialist cultural-ethical and material advancement and the development and prosperity of socialist science and culture.
Article 2 Works of citizens, legal persons or unincorporated organizations of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as "China"), whether published or not, shall enjoy copyright under this Law.
Copyright enjoyed by non-Chinese nationals or stateless persons in their works shall be protected under this Law according the agreement between their home country or country of habitual residence and China, or the international treaty to which both countries are parties.
Works of non-Chinese nationals or stateless persons which are first published in the territory of China shall enjoy copyright under this Law.
Works of authors who are nationals of a country which has not entered into an agreement with China or is not a party to an international treaty to which China is a party, or who are stateless persons, shall be protected under this Law if they are first published in a country that is a party to an international treaty to which China is a party, or simultaneously in a country which is a party to such treaty and a country outside such treaty.
Article 3 For the purposes of this Law, the term "works" shall refer to intellectual creations with originality in the realm of literature, art or science that can be represented in a certain form, including:
1. Writings;
2. Oral works;
3. Musical works, dramatic works, works of quyi (Chinese folk art), choreographic works and acrobatic works;
4. Works of fine arts and works of architecture;
5. Photographic works;
6. Audio-visual works;
7. Engineering design plans, product design drawings, maps, schematic drawings and other graphic works and their model works;
8. Computer software; and
9. Other intellectual creations that meet the characteristics of works.
Article 4 In exercising their rights, copyright owners and copyright-related rights holders shall not violate the Constitution and laws and shall not harm public interest. The State supervises and regulates the publication and dissemination of works in accordance with the law.
Article 5 This Law does not apply to:
1. Laws and regulations; resolutions, decisions and orders of government organs and other documents of a legislative, administrative or judicial nature; and their official translations;
2. Pure factual information; and
3. Calendars, numerical tables or forms of general use, and formulas.
Article 6 Measures for the protection of copyright in works of folk literature and art shall be formulated separately by the State Council.
Article 7 The State copyright authority shall be responsible for the copyright administration nationwide. The local copyright authority at or above the county level shall be responsible for copyright administration within its own administrative area.
Article 8 Copyright owners and copyright-related rights holders may authorize a collective copyright management body to exercise their copyright or copyright-related rights. A collective copyright management body established under the law shall be a non-profit legal person, and may, after being authorized, make rights claims in its own name for a copyright owner or a copyright-related rights holder and may act as a party to litigation, arbitration or mediation proceedings involving the copyright or copyright-related rights.
A collective copyright management body shall collect royalties from users as authorized. The rates of royalties shall be negotiated and determined between the collective copyright management body and the representative of the users. Where the negotiations fail, an application for ruling may be made to the State copyright authority; and a lawsuit may be filed with a people's court if either party disagrees with the ruling; or a lawsuit may be directly filed with a people's court by either party.
A collective copyright management body shall regularly disclose to the public overall situations including the collection and transfer of royalties, withdrawal and use of management fees and the undistributed part of royalties and establish a system for enquiry of information on rights for right owners and users. The State copyright authority shall supervise and regulate collective copyright management bodies in accordance with the law.
The method of establishment, rights and obligations, collection and distribution of copyright royalties, and supervision and regulation of collective copyright management bodies shall be separately stipulated by the State Council.
Chapter II Copyright
Section 1 Copyright Owners and Their Rights
Article 9 The term "copyright owners" shall include:
1. Authors; and
2. Other natural persons, legal persons and unincorporated organizations that enjoy copyright under this Law.
Article 10 The term "copyright" shall include the following moral rights and economic rights:
1. The right of publication, i.e., the right to decide whether or not to make a work available to the public;
2. The right of authorship, i.e., the right to claim authorship of a work by being named on the work as its author;
3. The right of modification, i.e., the right to modify or authorize others to modify a work;
4. The right of integrity, i.e., the right to protect a work against misrepresentation and distortion;
5. The right of reproduction, i.e., the right to make one or more copies of a work by printing, photocopying, rubbing, sound or visual recording, recopying or digitalization thereof, or any other means;
6. The right of distribution, i.e., the right to provide the original or a reproduction of a work to the public by means of sale or gift;
7. The right of rental, i.e., the right to permit others to temporarily use the original copy or any reproduced copy of any audio-visual work or computer software, except where the computer software itself is not the main subject matter of the rental arrangement;
8. The right of exhibition, i.e., the right to publicly display the original or a reproduction of a work of fine art or photographic work;
9. The right of performance, i.e., the right to publicly perform a work or to broadcast to the public the performance of a work by various means;
10. The right of projection, i.e., the right to publicly represent a work of fine art, photographic work, or audio-visual work by means of technical equipment such as a film projector or slide projector;
11. The right of broadcasting, i.e., the right to communicate or relay a work to the public by wired or wireless means, and the right to communicate to the public through loudspeaker or any other analogous instrument transmitting the broadcast of a work by symbols, sounds or images, excluding the rights stipulated in item 12 of this paragraph;
12. The right of communication by information networks, i.e., the right to make a work available to the public by wired or wireless means so that the public can access the work at a place and time of their choice;
13. The right of cinematization, i.e., the right to fix a work on a medium by the method of producing an audio-visual work;
14. The right of adaptation, i.e., the right to alter a work and thereby create a new work of originality;
15. The right of translation, i.e., the right to convert a work from one language to another language;
16. The right of make collection of works, i.e., the right to collect works or portions of works to produce a new work through selection or arrangement; and
17. Other rights to which a copyright owner is entitled.
A copyright owner may license others to exercise the rights specified in Items (5) to (17) of the preceding paragraph and obtain remuneration therefrom pursuant to an agreement or applicable provisions of this Law.
A copyright owner may transfer all or part of the rights specified in Items (5) to (17) of the first paragraph of this Article and obtain remuneration therefrom pursuant to an agreement or the applicable provisions of this Law.
Section 2 Ownership of Copyright
Article 11 Unless otherwise provided for by this Law, the copyright in a work shall be owned by its author.
The author of a work is the natural person who creates the work.
Where a work is created according to the will and under the responsibility of a legal person or unincorporated organization, the legal person or unincorporated organization shall be deemed to be the author thereof.
Article 12 The natural person, legal person or unincorporated organization named on a work as its author shall be the author of the work and have the corresponding rights to the said work, unless proven to the contrary.
Authors and other copyright owners may complete the registration of their works with a registration agency recognized by the State copyright authority.
The two preceding paragraphs shall apply mutatis mutandis to copyright-related rights.
Article 13 The copyright in a work created through the adaptation, translation, annotation or arrangement of a pre-existing work shall be owned by the adaptor, translator, annotator or arranger, provided that the exercise of such copyright does not prejudice the copyright in the original work.
Article 14 The copyright in a work jointly created by two or more co-authors shall be owned jointly by the co-authors.
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Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No.62
November 11, 2020
(Adopted at the 15th Session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on September 7, 1990; amended for the first time in accordance with the Decision on Revising the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on October 27, 2001; amended for the second time in accordance with the Decisions on Revising the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 13th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress on February 26, 2010; and amended for the third time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 23rd Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on November 11, 2020)
Table of Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Copyright
Section 1 Copyright Owners and Their Rights
Section 2 Ownership of Copyright
Section 3 Protection Period of the Rights
Section 4 Limitation of Rights
Chapter III Copyright Licensing and Transfer Contracts
Chapter IV Copyright-related Rights
Section 1 Publication of Books, Newspapers and Periodicals
Section 2 Performance
Section 3 Sound and/or Visual Recordings
Section 4 Broadcasts by Radio or Television Stations
Chapter V Protection of Copyright and Copyright-related Rights
Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Constitution") in order to protect the copyright of authors in their literary, artistic and scientific works and copyright-related rights and interests, encourage the creation and dissemination of works conducive to promoting the socialist cultural-ethical and material advancement and the development and prosperity of socialist science and culture.
Article 2 Works of citizens, legal persons or unincorporated organizations of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as "China"), whether published or not, shall enjoy copyright under this Law.
Copyright enjoyed by non-Chinese nationals or stateless persons in their works shall be protected under this Law according the agreement between their home country or country of habitual residence and China, or the international treaty to which both countries are parties.
Works of non-Chinese nationals or stateless persons which are first published in the territory of China shall enjoy copyright under this Law.
Works of authors who are nationals of a country which has not entered into an agreement with China or is not a party to an international treaty to which China is a party, or who are stateless persons, shall be protected under this Law if they are first published in a country that is a party to an international treaty to which China is a party, or simultaneously in a country which is a party to such treaty and a country outside such treaty.
Article 3 For the purposes of this Law, the term "works" shall refer to intellectual creations with originality in the realm of literature, art or science that can be represented in a certain form, including:
1. Writings;
2. Oral works;
3. Musical works, dramatic works, works of quyi (Chinese folk art), choreographic works and acrobatic works;
4. Works of fine arts and works of architecture;
5. Photographic works;
6. Audio-visual works;
7. Engineering design plans, product design drawings, maps, schematic drawings and other graphic works and their model works;
8. Computer software; and
9. Other intellectual creations that meet the characteristics of works.
Article 4 In exercising their rights, copyright owners and copyright-related rights holders shall not violate the Constitution and laws and shall not harm public interest. The State supervises and regulates the publication and dissemination of works in accordance with the law.
Article 5 This Law does not apply to:
1. Laws and regulations; resolutions, decisions and orders of government organs and other documents of a legislative, administrative or judicial nature; and their official translations;
2. Pure factual information; and
3. Calendars, numerical tables or forms of general use, and formulas.
Article 6 Measures for the protection of copyright in works of folk literature and art shall be formulated separately by the State Council.
Article 7 The State copyright authority shall be responsible for the copyright administration nationwide. The local copyright authority at or above the county level shall be responsible for copyright administration within its own administrative area.
Article 8 Copyright owners and copyright-related rights holders may authorize a collective copyright management body to exercise their copyright or copyright-related rights. A collective copyright management body established under the law shall be a non-profit legal person, and may, after being authorized, make rights claims in its own name for a copyright owner or a copyright-related rights holder and may act as a party to litigation, arbitration or mediation proceedings involving the copyright or copyright-related rights.
A collective copyright management body shall collect royalties from users as authorized. The rates of royalties shall be negotiated and determined between the collective copyright management body and the representative of the users. Where the negotiations fail, an application for ruling may be made to the State copyright authority; and a lawsuit may be filed with a people's court if either party disagrees with the ruling; or a lawsuit may be directly filed with a people's court by either party.
A collective copyright management body shall regularly disclose to the public overall situations including the collection and transfer of royalties, withdrawal and use of management fees and the undistributed part of royalties and establish a system for enquiry of information on rights for right owners and users. The State copyright authority shall supervise and regulate collective copyright management bodies in accordance with the law.
The method of establishment, rights and obligations, collection and distribution of copyright royalties, and supervision and regulation of collective copyright management bodies shall be separately stipulated by the State Council.
Chapter II Copyright
Section 1 Copyright Owners and Their Rights
Article 9 The term "copyright owners" shall include:
1. Authors; and
2. Other natural persons, legal persons and unincorporated organizations that enjoy copyright under this Law.
Article 10 The term "copyright" shall include the following moral rights and economic rights:
1. The right of publication, i.e., the right to decide whether or not to make a work available to the public;
2. The right of authorship, i.e., the right to claim authorship of a work by being named on the work as its author;
3. The right of modification, i.e., the right to modify or authorize others to modify a work;
4. The right of integrity, i.e., the right to protect a work against misrepresentation and distortion;
5. The right of reproduction, i.e., the right to make one or more copies of a work by printing, photocopying, rubbing, sound or visual recording, recopying or digitalization thereof, or any other means;
6. The right of distribution, i.e., the right to provide the original or a reproduction of a work to the public by means of sale or gift;
7. The right of rental, i.e., the right to permit others to temporarily use the original copy or any reproduced copy of any audio-visual work or computer software, except where the computer software itself is not the main subject matter of the rental arrangement;
8. The right of exhibition, i.e., the right to publicly display the original or a reproduction of a work of fine art or photographic work;
9. The right of performance, i.e., the right to publicly perform a work or to broadcast to the public the performance of a work by various means;
10. The right of projection, i.e., the right to publicly represent a work of fine art, photographic work, or audio-visual work by means of technical equipment such as a film projector or slide projector;
11. The right of broadcasting, i.e., the right to communicate or relay a work to the public by wired or wireless means, and the right to communicate to the public through loudspeaker or any other analogous instrument transmitting the broadcast of a work by symbols, sounds or images, excluding the rights stipulated in item 12 of this paragraph;
12. The right of communication by information networks, i.e., the right to make a work available to the public by wired or wireless means so that the public can access the work at a place and time of their choice;
13. The right of cinematization, i.e., the right to fix a work on a medium by the method of producing an audio-visual work;
14. The right of adaptation, i.e., the right to alter a work and thereby create a new work of originality;
15. The right of translation, i.e., the right to convert a work from one language to another language;
16. The right of make collection of works, i.e., the right to collect works or portions of works to produce a new work through selection or arrangement; and
17. Other rights to which a copyright owner is entitled.
A copyright owner may license others to exercise the rights specified in Items (5) to (17) of the preceding paragraph and obtain remuneration therefrom pursuant to an agreement or applicable provisions of this Law.
A copyright owner may transfer all or part of the rights specified in Items (5) to (17) of the first paragraph of this Article and obtain remuneration therefrom pursuant to an agreement or the applicable provisions of this Law.
Section 2 Ownership of Copyright
Article 11 Unless otherwise provided for by this Law, the copyright in a work shall be owned by its author.
The author of a work is the natural person who creates the work.
Where a work is created according to the will and under the responsibility of a legal person or unincorporated organization, the legal person or unincorporated organization shall be deemed to be the author thereof.
Article 12 The natural person, legal person or unincorporated organization named on a work as its author shall be the author of the work and have the corresponding rights to the said work, unless proven to the contrary.
Authors and other copyright owners may complete the registration of their works with a registration agency recognized by the State copyright authority.
The two preceding paragraphs shall apply mutatis mutandis to copyright-related rights.
Article 13 The copyright in a work created through the adaptation, translation, annotation or arrangement of a pre-existing work shall be owned by the adaptor, translator, annotator or arranger, provided that the exercise of such copyright does not prejudice the copyright in the original work.
Article 14 The copyright in a work jointly created by two or more co-authors shall be owned jointly by the co-authors.
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