Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China — Full English Translation (2020 Amendment)

Chapter I: General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is enacted for the purposes of protecting the copyright of authors in their literary, artistic, and scientific works and the rights related to copyright, encouraging the creation and dissemination of works beneficial to the construction of socialist spiritual and material civilization, and promoting the development and prosperity of socialist culture and science.

Article 2 Chinese citizens, legal persons, or other organizations shall enjoy copyright in their works, whether published or not, in accordance with this Law. The copyright enjoyed by foreigners or stateless persons in their works shall be protected by this Law in accordance with the agreements concluded between China and the countries to which they belong or the international treaties to which both countries are parties, or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity.

Article 3 For the purposes of this Law, ‘works’ means intellectual creations with originality in the literary, artistic, or scientific domain that can be expressed in a certain form, including: (1) written works; (2) oral works; (3) musical, dramatic, quyi, choreographic, and acrobatic works; (4) fine arts and architectural works; (5) photographic works; (6) audiovisual works; (7) graphic works, such as drawings of engineering designs and product designs, maps, and schematic drawings, as well as model works; (8) computer software; (9) other intellectual creations conforming to the characteristics of works.

Article 4 Copyright owners shall not violate the Constitution or laws, nor shall they impair public interests. The state shall supervise and administer the publication and dissemination of works in accordance with law.

Chapter II: Copyright

Article 5 Copyright includes the following personal rights and property rights: (1) right of publication; (2) right of authorship; (3) right of revision; (4) right of integrity; (5) right of reproduction; (6) right of distribution; (7) right of rental; (8) right of exhibition; (9) right of performance; (10) right of projection; (11) right of broadcasting; (12) right of communication through information networks; (13) right of cinematography; (14) right of adaptation; (15) right of translation; (16) right of compilation; (17) other rights enjoyed by copyright owners.

Article 6 The term of protection for the right of publication and the property rights of a natural person shall be the lifetime of the author plus 50 years after his or her death. For a work of a legal person or other organization, or a work made for hire, the term of protection for the right of publication and the property rights shall be 50 years after the first publication of the work.

Article 7 In the following cases, a work may be used without permission and without payment of remuneration, provided that the name of the author and the title of the work are indicated and the normal use of the work is not affected, nor the lawful rights and interests of the copyright owner unreasonably prejudiced: (1) use for personal study, research, or appreciation; (2) appropriate quotation for the purpose of introducing or commenting on a work or illustrating a point; (3) use in textbooks for the purpose of school teaching or scientific research; (4) reporting current events in newspapers, periodicals, radio stations, television stations, or other media; (5) publication or broadcasting by media of speeches delivered at public gatherings; (6) translation, adaptation, compilation, broadcasting, or reproduction in small quantities for classroom teaching or scientific research; (7) use by state organs within the reasonable scope for the purpose of performing official duties; (8) reproduction by libraries, archives, memorial halls, museums, art galleries, cultural centers, etc., for the purpose of display or preservation of editions; (9) free performance of a published work; (10) copying, painting, photographing, or video-recording of an artistic work installed or displayed in an outdoor public place; (11) translation into a minority ethnic language and publication in China; (12) provision of published works in Braille or other means accessible to persons with visual impairment.

Chapter III: Copyright Ownership and Exercise

Article 8 The copyright in a work shall belong to the author, except where otherwise provided in this Law. The natural person, legal person, or other organization whose name is on the work shall be the author, and the work shall have corresponding rights, unless there is proof to the contrary.

Article 9 For a work created under the auspices of and according to the intention of a legal person or other organization for which the legal person or other organization assumes responsibility, the legal person or other organization shall be regarded as the author.

Article 10 For a work of joint authorship, the copyright shall be jointly owned by the co-authors. Where a work of joint authorship can be used separately, each co-author may independently enjoy the copyright in the part that he or she has created, provided that the copyright in the joint work as a whole is not prejudiced.

Article 11 The copyright in a work created through adaptation, translation, annotation, arrangement, or compilation of a pre-existing work shall be enjoyed by the adapter, translator, annotator, arranger, or compiler, provided that the copyright in the original work is not prejudiced.

Article 12 For a work made for hire, the copyright shall be enjoyed by the author, provided that the legal person or other organization shall have the right to use the work within the scope of its business. During the two years after the completion of the work, the author may not, without the consent of the entity, authorize a third party to use the work in the same manner as the entity does.

Article 13 The alteration, assignment, and inheritance of the property rights in copyright shall be handled in accordance with the relevant provisions of laws and administrative regulations.

Chapter IV: Copyright Transfer and Licensing

Article 14 The property rights in copyright may be transferred in whole or in part by the copyright owner to another person in accordance with the provisions of law.

Article 15 A copyright license contract shall include the following main contents: (1) the types of rights licensed; (2) whether the license is exclusive or non-exclusive; (3) the geographical scope and term of the license; (4) the amount and method of payment of remuneration; (5) liability for breach of contract; (6) other matters that the parties consider necessary to agree upon.

Article 16 The property rights in copyright may be pledged as security. Where the property rights in copyright are pledged, the pledgor and the pledgee shall register the pledge with the copyright administration department.

Chapter V: Related Rights

Article 17 Publishers of books and newspapers and periodicals shall enjoy the rights and assume the obligations prescribed by law in respect of the works they publish. A book publisher shall, during the term of the contract, enjoy the exclusive right of publication of the work delivered for publication by the copyright owner.

Article 18 A performer shall enjoy the following rights with respect to his or her performance: (1) to claim performance rights; (2) to protect the performer’s image from distortion; (3) to authorize others to broadcast or communicate the performance to the public live; (4) to authorize others to make sound or video recordings; (5) to authorize others to reproduce, distribute, or make available through information networks the sound or video recordings of the performance. The term of protection of the rights of a performer shall be 50 years.

Article 19 A producer of sound or video recordings shall enjoy the right to authorize others to reproduce, distribute, rent, and make available through information networks the sound or video recordings, and to receive remuneration therefor. The term of protection shall be 50 years after the first production of the recording.

Article 20 Radio stations and television stations shall have the right to prohibit others from: (1) rebroadcasting their broadcast radio or television programs; (2) recording their broadcast programs on sound or video carriers and reproducing such carriers. The term of protection shall be 50 years after the first broadcast of the program.

Chapter VI: Protection of Copyright and Related Rights

Article 21 A copyright owner or a holder of related rights who believes that his or her rights have been infringed on information networks may notify the network service provider to take necessary measures such as deletion, blocking, or disconnection of links. The network service provider shall promptly forward the notice and take necessary measures.

Article 22 A copyright owner who has entered into a copyright collective management contract with a copyright collective management organization may authorize the organization to exercise the copyright or related rights. The copyright collective management organization may, in its own name, make claims for the copyright owner.

Article 23 Copyright collective management organizations shall be non-profit organizations established in accordance with law. Their methods of establishment, rights and obligations, collection and distribution of copyright royalties, and supervision and administration shall be separately prescribed by the State Council.

Chapter VII: Legal Liability

Article 24 Where a copyright or related right is infringed, the infringer shall bear civil liability such as cessation of the infringement, elimination of ill effects, making an apology, and compensation for losses. The amount of compensation shall be determined based on the actual losses of the right holder or the illegal gains of the infringer.

Article 25 Where it is difficult to determine the actual losses or illegal gains, the amount of compensation may be determined by reference to the royalty for the right. For intentional infringement with serious circumstances, the amount of compensation may be determined as not less than one time but not more than five times the amount. Where it is difficult to determine, the people’s court may award compensation of not less than RMB 500 and not more than RMB 5,000,000.

Article 26 The people’s court may, at the request of the right holder, order the destruction of infringing copies and the materials, tools, and equipment primarily used for manufacturing infringing copies, or order that such items be disposed of outside commercial channels without compensation.

Article 27 The limitation period for instituting legal proceedings for copyright infringement shall be three years, counted from the date on which the right holder knew or should have known that his or her rights had been infringed and the infringer.

Article 28 A publisher or producer of a reproduction who is unable to prove that its publication or production has been legally authorized, or a distributor of a reproduction or a renter of a reproduction of an audiovisual work, computer software, or sound or video recording who is unable to prove the lawful source of the distributed or rented reproduction, shall bear legal liability.

Article 29 The copyright administration department may, when investigating and handling a suspected copyright infringement, inquire of the parties concerned, conduct on-site inspections, access and copy relevant materials, and seal up or seize the articles involved.

Article 30 Where a copyright infringement simultaneously impairs public interests, the copyright administration department shall order the infringer to stop the infringement and may confiscate the illegal gains, confiscate and destroy the infringing copies, and impose a fine. Where a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with law.

Chapter VIII: Supplementary Provisions

Article 31 The protection of computer software and the communication of works through information networks shall be separately prescribed by the State Council.

Article 32 The term ‘publication’ as used in this Law means the reproduction and distribution of a work. The relevant provisions of this Law shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the protection of copyright in folk literary and artistic works.

Article 33 This Law shall come into force on June 1, 2021. The Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China (2010 Amendment) shall be repealed simultaneously.