Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2010)

Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2010)
Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2010)

Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No.26

February 26, 2010

(Adopted at the 15th Session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on September 7, 1990, and amended for the first time in accordance with the Decision on Amending 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)

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 Publications, Performance, Sound or Visual Recordings and Broadcasts
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 Legal Liability and Enforcement Measures
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 other 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 include works created in any of the following forms in the domain of literature, art, natural sciences, social sciences, engineering or technology:
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. Cinematographic works and works created by a process analogous to cinematography;
7. Engineering design plans, product design drawings, maps, schematic drawings and other graphic works and their model works;
8. Computer software; and
9. Other works as provided for by laws and administrative regulations.

Article 4 In exercising copyright, copyright owners shall not violate the Constitution and the laws, nor harm public interests. The State supervises and regulates the publication and dissemination of works under 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. News of current events; 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 administrative department for copyright of the State Council shall be in charge of the copyright administration nationwide. The administrative department for copyright of the people's governments of a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government 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. After being authorized, a collective copyright management body may, in its own name, make rights claims for a copyright owner or copyright-related rights holder and may act as a party to litigation or arbitration proceedings involving the copyright or copyright-related rights.
A collective copyright management body shall be a non-profit organization, and its method of establishment, rights and obligations, collection and distribution of copyright royalties, supervision and regulation, etc. shall be governed by regulations separately formulated 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 citizens, legal persons and other 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 or recopying 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 a cinematographic work or a work created by a process analogous to cinematography or computer software for a consideration, 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 cinematographic work or a work created by a process analogous to cinematography by means of technical equipment such as a film projector or slide projector;
11. The right of broadcasting, i.e., the right to broadcast or communicate a work to the public by wireless means, to communicate a work to the public by wire or by rebroadcasting of the broadcast of the work, and to communicate to the public by loudspeaker or any other analogous instrument transmitting the broadcast of the work by symbols, sounds or images;
12. The right of communication by information networks, i.e., the right to make a work available to the public by wire or wireless means, enabling the public to access the work from a place at a time chosen by them;
13.
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