Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2001)
Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2001)
Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2001)
Order of the President [2001] No.58
October 27, 2001
(Adopted on September 7, 1990 at the 15th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 7th National People's Congress; and amended by the Decision on Amending the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China passed at the 24th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 9th National People's Congress on October 27, 2001)
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Copyright
Section 1 Copyright Owners and Their Right
Section 2 Ownership of Copyright
Section 3 Period of Protection
Section 4 Limitation of Rights
Chapter III Copyright Licensing and Assignment Contracts
Chapter IV Publications, Performance, Sound and Video Recordings and Broadcasts
Section 1 Publication of Books, Newspapers and Periodicals
Section 2 Performances
Section 3 Sound and Video Recordings
Section 4 Broadcasts by Radio or Television Stations
Chapter V Legal Liability and Enforcement Measures
Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is formulated in accordance with the Constitution in order to protect the copyrights and associated rights and interests of authors of literary, artistic and scientific works, to encourage the creation and propagation of works that are beneficial to the development of a spiritual and material civilization based on socialist ideals, and to promote the development of a flourishing scientific and cultural environment founded on socialism.
Article 2 Works of citizens, legal persons and other organizations, whether published or not, shall enjoy copyright under this Law.
Where a foreigner or stateless person, in accordance with an agreement between his home country or his country of habitual residence and China, or in accordance with an international treaty acceded to by both his home country or country of habitual residence and China, enjoys copyright in a work that he has published outside China, such copyright shall enjoy protection under this Law.
Works of foreigners or stateless persons that are first published in the People's Republic of China shall enjoy copyright under this Law.
Where the work of an author whose country has not entered into an agreement with China or has not acceded to an international treaty to which China has acceded, or the work of a stateless person, is first published in a country that is a signatory to an international treaty to which China has acceded, or is simultaneously published in a signatory country and a non-signatory country, such work shall enjoy protection under this Law.)>
(Relevant articles: Articles 1)
Article 3 For the purposes of this Law, the term "works" shall include literary, artistic, natural science, social science and engineering technology works, etc., that are created in any of the following forms
1. written works;
2. oral works;
3. musical works, operatic and dramatic works, works of quyi, choreographic works and acrobatic works;
4. works of fine art and architectural works;
5. photographic works;
6. cinematographic works and works created by a process analogous to cinematography;
7. graphics works such as drawings of engineering designs, drawings of product designs, maps, schematic drawings, etc., and three-dimensional model works;
8. computer software;
9. other works as stipulated in laws and administrative regulations.
Article 4 Works that may not be legally published or disseminated shall not be protected under this Law.
No copyright owner may exercise his copyright in a manner that violates the Constitution or any other law or harms the public interest.)>
(Relevant articles: Articles 1)
Article 5 This Law shall not apply to
1. aws and regulations; resolutions, decisions and orders of government organs and other documents of a legislative, administrative or judicial nature; and official translations thereof;
2. news of current events; and
3. calendars, numerical tables in common use, forms in common use and formulas.)>
(Relevant articles: Legislation 1)
Article 6 Measures for the protection of copyright in folk literary and artistic works shall be formulated separately by the State Council.
Article 7 The copyright administrative department of the State Council [the National Copyright Administration] shall oversee the administration of copyrights nationwide. The copyright administrative departments of the people's governments of each province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the central government shall be responsible for the administration of copyrights in their respective administrative districts.
Article 8 Copyright owners and owners of associated rights may authorize an organization for the collective administration of copyrights to exercise their copyrights or associated rights. After receiving authorization, an organization for the collective administration of copyrights may, in its own name, assert the rights of a copyright owner or an owner of associated rights and act as a party in litigation or arbitration involving such copyrights or associated rights.
Organizations for the collective administration of copyrights are non-profit organizations. The State Council shall separately formulate provisions concerning the method of establishment for and the rights and obligations of such organizations, the collection and distribution of copyright royalties by such organizations and the supervision and administration of such organizations, etc.
Chapter II Copyright
Section 1 Copyright Owners and Their Rights
Article 9 The term "copyright owner" shall include
1. authors; and
2. other citizens, legal persons and organizations that enjoy copyright under this Law.)>
(Relevant articles: Cases 1)
Article 10 The term "copyright" shall include the following personal rights1 and property rights2
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 attribution, i.e., the right to affix one's name to a work in order to indicate the author's identity;
3. the right of revision, i.e., the right to revise or authorize others to revise one's work;
4. the right of integrity, i.e., the right to protect one's work against misrepresentation and distortion;
5. the right of reproduction, i.e., the right to make one or more copies of one's work through such means as printing, photocopying, making a rubbing, making a sound recording, making a video recording, duplicating a recording, reproducing by photographic or cinematographic means, etc.;
6. the right of distribution, i.e., the right to provide the original or reproductions of one's 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 one's cinematographic work, work created by a process analogous to cinematography or computer software (unless the computer software itself is not the essential object of the rental arrangement) for consideration;
8. the right of exhibition, i.e., the right to publicly display the original or a reproduction of one's work of fine art or photographic work;
9. the right of performance, i.e., the right to publicly perform one's work and to publicly broadcast by whatever means a performance of one's work;
10. the right of projection, i.e., the right to publicly show one's work of fine art, photographic work, cinematographic work or work created by a process analogous to cinematography by means of technical equipment such as a film projector, slide projector, etc.;
11. the right of broadcast, i.e., the right to publicly broadcast or communicate one's work by means of wireless transmission, to communicate one's broadcast work to the public by wire transmission or rebroadcasting and to communicate one's broadcast work to the public through a loudspeaker or any other analogous instrument used to transmit symbols, sounds or images;
12. the right of communication via an information network, i.e., the right to make one's work available to the public by wire or wireless means and enable members of the public to access the work at the time and place of their choosing;
13. the right of cinematization, i.e., the right to fix a work in a medium using a cinematographic process or a process analogous to cinematography;
14. the right of adaptation, i.e., the right to change one's work and thereby create a new original work;
15. the right of translation, i.e., the right to convert one's work from one language to another language;
16. the right of compilation, i.e., the right to render one's work or extracts of one's work into a new work through selection or arrangement and assembly; and
17. other rights to which a copyright owner is entitled.
A copyright owner may permit others to exercise the rights specified in Items (5) to (17) of the preceding paragraph and to receive remuneration for granting such permission pursuant to an agreement between the parties or the relevant provisions of this Law.
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