Copyright registration

China's Copyright Law was promulgated in 1990 and came into force on June 1, 1991. Since China acceded to the Berne Convention in October 1992, when a work is completed in a member state of the Convention, its copyright is automatically protected in China. However, if a work made in a non-member state is to be protected in China, the work must first be published in a member State of the Convention. The term of copyright protection in China is the author's lifetime plus 50 years after his death. Or, if the copyright belongs to an entity, the period of protection is 50 years from the date of its first publication.

According to Chinese law and practice, the copyright of a work does not need to be registered. However, in order to deal with copyright disputes more conveniently, it is suggested to register the copyright of works. This is because the copyright registration certificate will be regarded as prima facie evidence that the copyright owner owns the copyright in the copyright proceedings.

In order to obtain copyright registration in China, foreign applicants must entrust a Chinese agent to apply for registration with the Chinese Copyright Office. The Chinese Copyright Office has branches in each province or municipality, such as the Shanghai Copyright Office, to process copyright registration applications and issue copyright registration certificates, which are valid throughout China.

(1) Necessary information and documents:

1. Name, address (including postal code) and nationality of the copyright owner, and the name and telephone number (if any) of his contact person; Materials proving the identity of the copyright owner, namely:

1) If the owner is an individual (including the copyright heir), a notarized copy of the ID card;

2) If the owner is a company, a notarized copy of the business license shall be provided;

2. The author's name, address (including postcode), nationality, date of birth, date of death and id card number, and the name and telephone number of his/her contact, if any;

3. The power of attorney must be signed by the copyright owner with the date of signature; If there are more than one owner, it may be signed by all or signed by one owner on behalf of the other owners and accompanied by a power of attorney issued by the other owners;

4. A brief description of the content of the work;

5. Information related to the work:

1) The name, type and completion date of the work;

2) Whether the work has ever been published and, if so, the date and place of its first publication; If the work has been published in a series/anthology/magazine, the title, volume number and page number of the series/anthology/magazine, and the date of publication;

3) In the case of a deductive work, the name and registration number of the original work (if any), and the form of deduction, such as adaptation, translation, arrangement and annotation;

6. If the copyright of the work has been licensed to a third party, please provide:

1) Copy of notarized license contract;

2) Licensee's name and address (including zip code);

3) License method and term;

4) Name and telephone number of licensee's contact person (if any);

7. If the work is commissioned, please provide a notarized copy of the commissioned contract;

8. If the copyright of the work has been transferred, please provide a copy of the notarized transfer certificate.

(II) Notes:

1. For a group of works published in newspapers/journals within one year, the author can register as one work and pay the application fee once;

2. Supplementary registration may be made for the same work but the usual application fee is required. The content of this supplementary registration shall only be an addition to and not a change of the content of the work.