Overview of Copyright in China

China's copyright protection system is established by laws such as the Constitution, civil Law, Criminal Law, inheritance Law and copyright Law. The current Copyright Law, which is a basic law on copyright protection in China, has made clear provisions on copyright and its protection in a comprehensive and detailed way.

The Copyright Law was adopted at the 15th Session of the Standing Committee of the seventh National People's Congress on September 7, 1990, and officially came into force on June 1, 1991. On October 27, 2001, the copyright Law of the People's Republic of China was revised in accordance with the decision of the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on amending the Copyright Law. On May 30, 1991, the National Copyright Administration of China, with the approval of The State Council of China, issued the Regulations on the Implementation of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, which came into force on June 1, 1991. According to the revised "Copyright Law", The State Council revised the regulation again and announced it on August 2, 2002. The revised Ordinance came into force on 15 September 2002.

In addition, in order to standardize the protection of computer software copyright, The State Council of China issued the Regulations on Computer Software Protection on June 4, 1991, which came into force on October 1, 1991.

China also acceded to the Berne Convention on 10 July 1992, which entered into force in China on 15 October 1992. On July 30, 1992, China acceded to the Universal Copyright Convention, which became effective in China on October 30, 1992.

(1) Subjects of Copyright in China (copyright owners) :

1. Authors, citizens who directly create works, including solo authors and co-authors;

2. Legal person author, that is, a work created under the auspices of a legal person or entity without legal personality, on behalf of the will of the legal person or entity without legal personality and under the responsibility of the legal person or entity without legal personality, such legal person or entity without legal personality shall be regarded as the author;

3. In addition to the right of publication of a legacy, the successor of a copyright acquired by inheritance generally enjoys only economic rights, not spiritual rights enjoyed by the original author;

4. In the case of a person who has acquired copyright by contract, if the contract is not expressly stipulated or no contract has been concluded, the copyright shall belong to the trustee;

5. The legal person or entity without legal personality that inherits the rights and obligations of the right to use and the right to remuneration of its works during the period of legal protection after the change or termination of the legal person or entity without legal personality;

6. A State shall enjoy the copyright of a legal person or entity without legal personality if it has not inherited the rights and obligations of the legal person or entity without legal personality after modification or termination.

(2) The main rights granted to copyright owners by China's Copyright Law:

1. Right of publication, that is, the right to decide whether a work should be made public;

2. Right of authorship, that is, the right to indicate the identity of the author and to put his name on the work;

3. Right of modification, that is, the right to modify or authorize others to modify the work;

4. The right to integrity of works, that is, the right to protect works from distortion and tampering;

5. Right of exploitation and remuneration, that is, the right to use a work by means of reproduction, performance, broadcasting, exhibition, distribution, cinematographic, television or video production, adaptation, translation, annotation and editing; And the right to authorize others to use the work in the above manner and to receive remuneration for doing so.