(Adopted at the Fifteenth 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 of the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People’s Congress Concerning Amendment to the Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China on October 27, 2001; and amended for the second time in accordance with the Decision of the 13th Session of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People’s Congress Concerning Amendment to the Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China on February 26, 2010; and amended for the third time according to the Decision on Amending the Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China at the 23rd Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People’s Congress on November 11, 2020)

Chapter I General Provisions

Chapter II Copyright

Section 1 Copyright Owners and Their Rights

Section 2 Ownership of Copyright

Section 3 Term of Protection

Section 4 Limitations on Rights

Chapter III Contracts of Copyright Licensing and Contracts of Copyright Transfer

Chapter IV Copyright-related Rights

Section 1 Publication of Books, Newspapers and Periodicals

Section 2 Performance

Section 3 Sound Recording and Video Recording

Section 4 Broadcasting by A Radio Station or Television Station

Chapter V Protection of Copyrights and Copyright-related Rights

Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions

Article 1 This Law is enacted, in accordance with the Constitution for the purposes of protecting the copyright of authors in their literary, artistic and scientific works and rights related to copyright, of encouraging the creation and dissemination of works which would contribute to the construction of socialist spiritual and material civilization, and of promoting the development and flourishing of socialist culture and sciences.

Article 2 Works of Chinese citizens, legal entities or unincorporated organizations, whether published or not, shall enjoy copyright in accordance with this Law.

Any work of a foreigner or stateless person which enjoys copyright under an agreement concluded between the country to which the author belongs or in which the author permanently resides and China, or under an international treaty to which both countries are parties, shall be protected by this Law.

Any work of a foreigner or stateless person published for the first time and within the territory of China shall enjoy copyright in accordance with this Law.

Any work of an author from a country not having concluded an agreement with China or entered into an international treaty jointly with China or of a stateless person, which is published for the first time in a country as a member of the international treaty into which China has entered or published in a member country and non- member country at the same time, shall be protected by this Law.

Article 3 “Works” mentioned in this Law means intellectual achievements in the fields of literature, art and science, which are new and original and can be presented in a certain form, including:

(1) written works;

(2) oral works;

(3) musical, dramatic, quyi, choreographic and acrobatic art works;

(4) works of fine art and architecture

(5) photographic works;

(6) audio-visual works;

(7) drawings of engineering designs and product designs, maps, sketches and other graphic works as well as model works;

(8) computer software;

(9) other intellectual achievements that fit the characteristics of works.

Article 4 Copyright owners and owners of copyright-related rights, in exercising their rights, shall not violate the Constitution or laws or infringe upon the public interests. The publication and dissemination of works shall be subject to the administration and supervision of the State.

Article 5 This Law shall not be applicable to:

(1) laws, regulations, resolutions, decisions and orders of state organs; other documents of legislative, administrative or judicial nature; and their official translations;

(2) purely factual information;

(3) calendars, numerical tables, forms of general use and formulas.

Article 6 Regulations for the protection of copyright in expressions of folklore shall be separately established by the State Council.

Article 7 The national copyright administration department shall be responsible for the nationwide administration of copyright. The local copyright administration department at and above the county level shall be responsible for the administration of copyright within its own jurisdiction.

Article 8 Copyright owners and owners of copyright-related rights may authorize a collective management organization of copyright to exercise the copyright or the copyright-related rights. A collective copyright administration organization which is established in accordance with the law is a non-profit legal entity and may, after being authorized, claim rights in its own name for the copyright owners and the owners of copyright-related rights, and may, as a party concerned, participate in the litigation, arbitration and mediation activities involved with copyright or copyright-related rights.

Collective copyright administration organizations, based on their authorization, collect exploitation fees from the users. The standard for collection of exploitation fees shall be determined by negotiation between the copyright collective management organization and the representative of the users, and if the negotiation fails, a request for a decision may be made to the national copyright administration department, and if the decision is not accepted, a lawsuit may be brought in a people's court; the concerned parties themselves may directly bring a lawsuit in a people’s court.

Collective copyright administration organizations shall regularly announce to the society the general situation of the collection and transfer of exploitation fees, the extraction and use of management fees, and the undistributed portion of the exploitation fees, and shall establish a rights information query system, for the right owners and users to inquire. The national copyright administration department shall supervise and manage the collective copyright administration organizations in accordance with the law.

A collective management organization of copyright shall be a non-profit organization, and the method of its establishment, its rights and obligations, the collection and distribution of the exploitation fee, as well as the supervision and management over it shall be separately provided by the State Council.

Article 9 “Copyright owners” shall include:

(1) authors;

(2) other natural persons, legal entities and unincorporated organizations enjoying copyright in accordance with this Law.

Article 10 “Copyright” shall include the following personal rights and property rights:

(1) the right of publication, that is, the right to decide whether to make a work available to the public;

(2) the right of authorship, that is, the right to claim authorship and to have the author’s name mentioned in connection with the work;

(3) the right of alteration, that is, the right to alter or authorize others to alter one’s work;

(4) the right of integrity, that is, the right to protect one’s work against distortion and mutilation;

(5) the right of reproduction, that is, the right to produce one or more copies of the work by means of printing, Xeroxing, rubbing, sound recording, video recording, duplicating, re-shooting, digitizing, etc.;

(6) the right of distribution, that is, the right to provide the public with original copies or reproduced copies of works by means of selling or donating;

(7) the right of lease, that is, the right to non-gratuitously permit others to temporarily exploit the original copy or reproductions of an audio-visual work or computer software, unless the computer software is not the main object under the lease;

(8) the right of exhibition, that is, the right to publicly display the original copies or reproduced copies of works of fine art and cinematographic works;

(9) the right of performance, that is, the right to publicly perform works, and to publicly transmit the performance of works by various means;

(10) the right of projection, that is, the right to make, by such technical equipment as projector, episcope, etc., the works of fine art, photographic works, audio-visual works, etc. reappear publicly;

(11) the right of broadcasting, that is, the right to publicly disseminate or rebroadcast works by wired or wireless means, and to disseminate broadcast works to the public by audio amplifier or other similar instruments for transmission of signs, sounds or images, except the right provided in Item (12) of this Paragraph;

(12) the right of information network dissemination, that is, the right to provide the public by wired or wireless means, so as to make the public able to respectively obtain works at a time and place selected by them;

(13) the right of production, that is, the right to fix works on a carrier by producing audio-visual works;

(14) the right of adaptation, that is, the right to modify a work for the purpose of creating a new work of original creation;

(15) the right of translation, that is, the right to transform the language of a work into another language;

(16) the right of compilation, that is, the right to choose or edit some works or fragments of works so as to form a new work;

(17) other rights which shall be enjoyed by the copyright owners.

A copyright owner may permit others to exercise the rights provided in Items (5) through (17) of the preceding paragraph, and may receive remuneration as agreed upon in the contract or in accordance with the relevant provisions in this Law.

A copyright owner may wholly or partially transfer the rights provided in Items (5) through (17) of Paragraph 1 of this Article, and may receive remuneration as agreed upon in the contract or in accordance with the relevant provisions in this Law.

Article 11 Except otherwise provided in this Law, the copyright in a work shall belong to its author.

The author of a work is the natural person who has created the work.

Where a work is created according to the intention and under the supervision and responsibility of a legal entity or an unincorporated organization, such legal entity or unincorporated organization shall be the author of the work.

Article 12 The natural person, legal entity or unincorporated organization whose name is affixed to a work shall, without the contrary proof, be the author of the work and enjoy corresponding rights in the work.

Copyright owners such as authors may register their works with the registration authority recognized by the national copyright administration department.

The provisions in the preceding two paragraphs shall apply by reference to copyright-related rights.

Article 13 Where a work is created by adaptation, translation, annotation or arrangement of a pre-existing work, the copyright in the work thus created shall be enjoyed by the adapter, translator, annotator or arranger, provided that the copyright in the original work is not infringed upon.

Article 14 Where a work is created jointly by two or more co-authors, the copyright in the work shall be enjoyed jointly by those co-authors. Co-authorship may not be claimed by anyone who has not participated in the creation of the work.

The copyright of a work of joint authorship shall be exercised by the co-authors through negotiation; where negotiation fails, and there is no justified reason, no party may hinder other parties from exercising rights other than transferring, granting an exclusive license to others and pledging, but the benefits gained thereby shall be reasonably distributed to all the co-authors.    

If a work of joint authorship can be separated into independent parts and exploited separately, each co-author shall be entitled to independent copyright in the parts that he has created, provided that the exercise of such copyright does not infringe upon the copyright in the joint work as a whole.

Article 15 A work created by compilation shall refer to the work which is compiled of some works, fragments of works or the data or other materials not constituting a work, and the choice or layout of the contents of which embodies the original creation. The copyright of the compilation work shall be enjoyed by the compiler, provided that the exercise of such copyright does not infringe upon the copyright of the pre-existing works included in the compilation.

Article 16 Publishing, performing and producing sound recordings and video recordings by using a work created by adaptation, translation, annotation, arrangement or compilation of a preexisting work shall be approved by the copyright owner of the work and the copyright owner of the preexisting work, with remuneration being paid.

Article 17 The copyright of a cinematographic work or a television drama work which is included in an audio-visual work shall be enjoyed by the producer, while any of the playwright, director, cameraman, words-writer, composer and other authors of the work shall enjoy the right of authorship, and shall be entitled to obtain remuneration as agreed upon in the contract between him and the producer.

The ownership of copyright in audio-visual works other than those provided in the preceding paragraph shall be agreed upon by the parties concerned; where no agreement is made or the agreement is not clear, it shall be enjoyed by the producer, while the author shall enjoy the right of authorship therein and shall be entitled to receive remuneration.

The authors of the screenplay, musical works and other works that are included in an audio-visual work and can be exploited separately shall be entitled to exercise their copyright independently.

Article 18 A work created by a natural person when fulfilling the tasks assigned to him by a legal entity or an unincorporated organization shall be deemed to be a service work. Unless otherwise provided in Paragraph 2 of this Article, the copyright of such a work shall be enjoyed by the author, but the legal entity or unincorporated organization shall have a priority right to exploit the work within the scope of its professional activities. During the two years after the completion of the work, the author shall not, without the consent of the legal entity or unincorporated organization, authorize a third party to exploit the work in the same way as the legal entity or unincorporated organization does.

In the following cases the author of a service work shall enjoy the right of authorship, while the legal entity or unincorporated organization shall enjoy other rights included in the copyright and may reward the author:

(1) drawings of engineering designs and product designs, maps, diagrams, computer software and other service works, which are created mainly with the materials and technical resources of the legal entity or unincorporated organization and under its responsibility;

(2) service works created by the staff of a newspaper or a periodical publisher, news agency, radio station or television station;

(3) service works of which the copyright is, in accordance with the laws or administrative regulations or as agreed upon in the contract, enjoyed by the legal entity or unincorporated organization.

Article 19 The ownership of copyright in a commissioned work shall be agreed upon in a contract between the commissioning and the commissioned parties. In the absence of such a contract or of an explicit agreement in the contract, the copyright in such a work shall belong to the commissioned party.

Article 20 The transfer of ownership of the original copy of a work shall not change the ownership of the copyright in such a work, however, the right to exhibit the original copy of a work of fine art or a photographic work shall be enjoyed by the owner of such original copy.

Where the author assigns to others the ownership of the original copy of a work of fine art or a photographic work which has not been published, the exhibition of such original copy by the assignee shall not constitute infringement on the author’s right of publication.

Article 21 Where the copyright of a work belongs to a natural person, his rights in respect of the work as provided in Items (5) through (17) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of this Law shall, after his death, during the term of protection provided in this Law, be transferred in accordance with the law.

Where the copyright of a work belongs to a legal entity or an unincorporated organization, its rights in respect of the work as provided in Items (5) through (17) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of this Law shall, after the change or the termination of the status of the legal entity or unincorporated organization, during the term of protection provided in this Law, be enjoyed by the succeeding legal entity or unincorporated organization which has taken over the rights and obligations of the previous legal entity or unincorporated organization, or, in the absence of such succeeding legal entity or unincorporated organization, by the State.

Article 22 The rights of authorship, alteration and integrity of an author shall be unlimited in time.

Article 23 In respect of a work of a natural person, the term of protection of the right of publication and of the rights provided in Items (5) through (17) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of this Law shall be the lifetime of the author and fifty years after his death, expiring on December 31 of the fiftieth year after his death. In the case of a work of joint authorship, such term shall expire on December 31 of the fiftieth year after the death of the last surviving author.

The term of protection of the right of publication and of the rights provided in Items (5) through (17) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of this Law where the work  belongs to a legal entity or an unincorporated organization, or in respect of a service work where the legal entity or unincorporated organization enjoys the copyright (except the right of authorship), shall be fifty years, expiring on December 31 of the fiftieth year after the completion of the creation of such a work; the term of protection of the rights provided in Items (5) through (17) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of this Law shall be fifty years, expiring on December 31 of the fiftieth year after the first publication of the work, however, any such work that has not been published within fifty years after the completion of its creation shall no longer be protected by this Law.

The term of protection of the right of publication and of the rights provided in Items (5) through (17) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of this Law in respect of an audio-visual work shall be fifty years, expiring on December 31 of the fiftieth year after the completion of the creation of such a work; the term of protection of the rights provided in Items (5) through (17) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of this Law shall be fifty years, expiring on December 31 of the fiftieth year after the first publication of the work, however, any such work that has not been published within fifty years after the completion of its creation shall no longer be protected by this Law.

Article 24 In the following cases, a work may be exploited without the permission from, and without payment of remuneration to, the copyright owner, provided that the name or title of the author and the title of the work are mentioned, the normal use of the work is not affected, and the legitimate rights and interests of the copyright owner are not unreasonably damaged:

(1) use of a published work for the purposes of the user’s own private study, research or self-entertainment;

(2) appropriate quotation from a published work in one’s own work for the purposes of introduction of, or comment on, a work, or demonstration of a point;

(3) inevitable reappearance or citation of a published work in newspapers, periodicals, radio stations, television stations or other media for the purpose of reporting news;

(4) reprinting by newspapers or periodicals or other media, or rebroadcasting by radio stations or television stations or other media, of the current event articles on the issues of politics, economy and religion, which have been published by other newspapers, periodicals, radio stations or television stations or other media, except where the copyright owner has declared that publication or broadcasting is not permitted;

(5) publication in newspapers or periodicals or other media, or broadcasting by radio stations or television stations or other media, of a speech delivered at a public assembly, except where the author has declared that publication or broadcasting is not permitted;

(6) translation, adaption, compilation, broadcasting or reproduction, in a small quality of copies, of a published work for use by teachers or scientific researchers in classroom teaching or scientific research, provided that the translation, adaption, compilation, broadcasting or reproduction is not published or distributed;

(7) use of a published work by a State organ within the reasonable scope for the purpose of fulfilling its official duties;

(8) reproduction of a work in its collections by a library, archive, memorial hall, museum, art gallery, cultural center or similar institution, for the purpose of the display or preservation of a copy of the work;

(9) free of charge performance of a published work, that is, with respect to the performance, neither fees are charged from the public nor the remuneration is paid to the performers and it is not for the purpose of making profits;

(10) copying, drawing, photographing, or video recording of an artistic work located or on display in a public place;

(11) translation of a work published by a Chinese citizen, a legal entity or an unincorporated organization, which is created in a national common language, into a minority nationality language for publication and distribution within the country;

(12) provision of a published work to people with reading disorder in a manner perceptible and accessible to them;

(13) other circumstances provided in laws and administrative regulations.

The provisions in the preceding paragraph shall be applicable to the limitations on copyright-related rights.

Article 25 Anyone who compiles or publishes textbooks for the purpose of implementing the compulsory education or State education planning may, without the permission from the copyright owner, compile published fragments of works, short written works or musical works, a single work of fine art, photographic works, or graphic works into the textbooks, however, he shall pay the remuneration to the copyright owner as provided in regulations, mention the name or title of the author and the title of the work, and shall not infringe upon other rights which the copyright owner shall enjoy in accordance with this Law.

The provisions in the preceding paragraph shall be applicable to the limitations on copyright-related rights.

Article 26 Anyone who exploits a work created by another shall conclude a contract of licensing with the copyright owner, unless it is provided in this Law that the exploitation need not be licensed.

A contract of licensing shall include the following main contents:

(1) the variety of the right to exploit the work covered by the license;

(2) the exclusive or non-exclusive nature of the right to exploit the work covered by the license;

(3) the territorial scope and term of the license;

(4) the amount of the remuneration and the method of its payment;

(5) the breach liability;

(6) any other contents that both parties consider necessary.

Article 27 Anyone who transfers any of the rights provided in Items (5) through (17) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of this Law shall conclude a written contract with the transferee.

A contract of copyright transfer shall include the following main contents:

(1)the name of the work;

(2)the variety and territorial scope of the transferred right;

(3)the transfer price;

(4)the date and method of the delivery of the transfer price;

(5)the breach liability;

(6)any other contents that both parties consider necessary.

Article 28 In case of pledge of property rights included in the copyright, the pledger and the pledgee shall go through registration of the pledge in accordance with the law.

Article 29 The licensee or the transferee shall not, without the consent of the copyright owner, exercise any right that the copyright owner has not expressly licensed or transferred in the contract.

Article 30 The standards of remuneration for the exploitation of a work may be either agreed upon by the parties concerned or be made by the national copyright administration department in collaboration with other departments concerned. Where the parties concerned fail to reach a clear agreement, the remuneration shall be paid in accordance with the standards of remuneration made by the national copyright administration department in collaboration with other departments concerned.

Article 31 Publishers, performers, producers of sound recordings and video recordings, radio stations, television stations and other entities who or which exploit the works of others pursuant to this Law shall not infringe upon the author’s rights of authorship, alteration or integrity, or their right to remuneration.

Article 32 A book publisher who publishes a book shall conclude a publishing contract with, and pay remuneration to, the copyright owner.

Article 33 With respect to a work delivered to a book publisher by the copyright owner for publication, the exclusive right to publish the work enjoyed by the book publisher as agreed upon in the contract shall be protected by law, and the work may not be published by others.

Article 34 The copyright owner shall deliver the work within the term agreed upon in the contract. The book publisher shall publish the work in accordance with the quality requirements and within the term agreed upon in the contract.

The book publisher shall bear the civil liability provided in Article 53 of this Law if he fails to publish the work within the term agreed upon in the contract.

The book publisher shall notify, and pay remuneration to, the copyright owner when the work is to be reprinted or republished. If the publisher refuses to reprint or republish the work when stocks of the book are exhausted, the copyright owner shall have the right to terminate the contract.

Article 35 Where a copyright owner has submitted the manuscript of his work to a newspaper or a periodical publisher for publication and has not received any notification of the said publisher’s decision to publish the work, within fifteen days from the newspaper publisher or within thirty days from the periodical publisher, counted from the date of submission of the manuscript, the copyright owner may submit the manuscript of the same work to another newspaper or periodical publisher for publication, unless the two parties have agreed otherwise.

Except where the copyright owner has declared that reprinting or excerpting is not permitted, other newspaper or periodical publishers may, after the publication of the work by a newspaper or periodical, reprint the work or print an abstract of it or print it as reference material, but such other publishers shall pay remuneration to the copyright owner as provided in regulations.

Article 36 A book publisher may alter or abridge a work with the permission from the copyright owner.

A newspaper or periodical publisher may make editorial modifications and abridgments in a work, but shall not make modifications in the content of the work unless permission has been obtained from the author.

Article 37 A publisher shall be entitled to permit others to exploit the format design of a published book or periodical of his or prohibit others from doing so.

The term of protection of the right provided in the preceding paragraph shall be ten years, expiring on December 31 of the tenth year after the first publication of the book or periodical that uses such a format.

Article 38 A performer (an individual performer or a performing group) who for a performance exploits a work created by another shall obtain permission from and pay remuneration to the copyright owner. A performance organizer who organizes a performance shall obtain permission from and pay remuneration to the copyright owner.

Article 39 A performer shall, in relation to his performance, enjoy the rights:

(1) to show his/her identity;

(2) to protect the character in his performance from distortion;

(3) to authorize others to make live broadcasts or to publicly transmit his live performance, and to receive remuneration for it;

(4) to authorize others to make sound recordings and video recordings, and to receive remuneration for it.

(5) to permit others to reproduce , distribute and lease the sound recordings or video recordings which record his performance, and to receive remuneration for it;

(6) to permit others to disseminate his performance to the public through information network, and to receive remuneration for it.

Anyone who is permitted to exploit the works in the ways provided in Items (3) through (6) of the preceding paragraph shall also obtain permission from and pay remuneration to the copyright owner.

Article 40 A performance given by a performer in the fulfillment of performance tasks assigned to him by the performing entity he works for is a service performance. The performer shall enjoy the rights to show his identity and to protect the character in his performance from distortion, and the ownership of other rights shall be agreed upon by the parties concerned. Where no agreement is made by the parties concerned or the agreement is not clear, the rights in the service performance shall be enjoyed by the performing entity. 

Where the rights in a service performance are enjoyed by the performer, the performing entity may use the performance for free within its business scope.

Article 41 The term of protection of the rights provided in Items (1) and (2) of Paragraph 1 of Article 39 of this Law shall not be limited.

The term of protection of the rights provided in Items (3) through (6) of Paragraph 1 of Article 39 of this Law shall be fifty years, expiring on December 31 of the fiftieth year after the performance is made.

Article 42 A producer of sound recordings or video recordings who, for the production of a sound recording or video recording, exploits a work created by another, shall obtain permission from and pay remuneration to the copyright owner.

A producer of a sound recording who, for the production of a sound recording, exploits a musical work which has been lawfully recorded as a sound recording by another, does not need to obtain permission from, but shall, as provided in regulations, pay remuneration to the copyright owner; such work shall not be exploited where the copyright owner has declared that such exploitation is not permitted.

Article 43 When producing a sound recording or video recording, the producer shall conclude a contract with, and pay remuneration to, the performers.

Article 44 A producer of sound recordings or video recordings shall have the right to permit others to reproduce, distribute, lease and disseminate to the public through information network such sound recordings or video recordings and shall have the right to receive remuneration for it. The term of protection of such rights shall be fifty years, expiring on December 31 of the fiftieth year after the production of the recording is firstly completed.

A person who is permitted to reproduce, distribute, lease or disseminate to the public through information network a sound recording or video recording shall meantime obtain permission from and also pay remuneration to both the copyright owner and the performer; a person who is permitted to lease a sound recording or video recording shall also obtain permission from and pay remuneration to the performer.

Article 45 Where a sound recording is used for wired or wireless public dissemination or is publically communicated to the public using a technical device that transmits sound, remuneration shall be paid to the producer of the sound recording.

Article 46 A radio station or television station that broadcasts an unpublished work created by another shall obtain permission from and pay remuneration to the copyright owner.

A radio station or television station that broadcasts a published work created by another does not need to obtain permission from, but shall pay remuneration to the copyright owner as provided in regulations.

Article 47 A radio station or television station is entitled to prohibit the following acts which it has not permitted:

(1) rebroadcasting by wired or wireless means the radio or television which it has broadcasted;

(2) recording or reproducing the radio or television which it has broadcasted;

(3) disseminating to the public through information network the radio or television which it has broadcasted.

The radio station or television station, in exercising the rights provided in the preceding paragraph, shall not affect, limit or damage other’s exercise of copyright or copyright-related rights.

The term of protection of the rights provided in the first paragraph of this Article shall be fifty years, expiring on December 31 of the fiftieth year after the first broadcasting of the radio or television.

Article 48 A television station that broadcasts another’s audio-visual work or videographic work shall obtain permission from and pay remuneration to the copyright owner of the audio-visual work or the producer of the video. A television station that broadcasts another’s videographic work shall also obtain permission from and pay remuneration to the copyright owner.

Article 49 In order to protect their copyrights and copyright-related rights, right owners may take technical measures.

Without the permission of the right owner, no organization or individual may intentionally circumvent or destroy the technical measures, manufacture, import or provide relevant devices or components to the public for the purpose of circumventing or destroying the technical measures, or intentionally provide technical services for others to circumvent or destroy the technical measures, except where otherwise provided in laws and administrative regulations.

For purposes of this Law, the term “technical measures” means effective technologies, devices or components used for preventing or restricting others from browsing or enjoying works, performances, sound recordings or video recordings or providing the public through information network works, performances, sound recordings or video recordings without permission of the right owners.

Article 50 In the following cases, technical measures may be circumvented, but the technologies, devices or components that circumvent the technical measures shall not be provided to others, and the other rights enjoyed by the right owners in accordance with the law shall not be infringed:

(1) providing a small quantity of published works to teachers or scientific researchers for classroom teaching or scientific research in schools, where the works cannot be obtained through normal channels; 

(2) providing published works to people with reading disorder in a manner perceptible and accessible to them, where the work cannot be obtained through normal channels;

(3) fulfilling official duties by State organs in accordance with administrative, supervisory and judicial procedures;

(4) testing the security performance of a computer and its system or network; and

(5) conducting encryption researches or computer software reverse engineering researches.

The provisions in the preceding paragraph shall be applicable to the limitations on copyright-related rights.

Article 51 The following may not be carried out without the permission of right owners:

(1) intentionally deleting or altering the information on the management of rights on a work, layout design, performance, sound recording, video recording, or radio or television, except where it cannot be avoided for technical reasons;

(2) making a work, layout design, performance, sound recording, video recording, radio or television available to the public, while knowing or supposed to know that the information on the management of rights thereon has been deleted or altered without permission.

Article 52 He who commits any of the following acts of infringement shall bear the civil liability for such remedies as ceasing the infringing act, eliminating the effects of the act, making a public apology or paying compensation for damages, depending on the circumstances:

(1) publishing a work without the permission from the copyright owner;

(2) publishing a work of joint authorship as a work created solely by oneself, without the permission from the other co-authors;

(3) having his name mentioned in connection with a work created by another, in order to seek personal fame and gain, where he has not taken part in the creation of the work;

(4) distorting a work created by another;

(5) plagiarizing the works of others;

(6) exploiting a work by means of exhibition, making audio-visual works, or by means of adaptation, translation, annotation, etc. without the permission from the copyright owner, unless otherwise provided in this Law;

(7) exploiting a work of another without paying the remuneration;

(8) without the permission from the copyright owner or owner of copyright-related rights of an audio-visual work, computer software, sound recordings or video recordings, from a performer, or from the producer of a sound recording or video recording, leasing the original copy or reproductions of his work or sound recordings or video recordings, except where otherwise provided in this Law;

(9) without the permission from a publisher, exploiting the format design of his published book or periodical;

(10) without the permission from the performer, broadcasting or publicly transmitting his live performance or recording his performance;

(11) committing other acts of infringement upon copyright and upon copyright-related rights.

Article 53 He who commits any of the following acts of infringement shall bear the civil liability provided in the Article 52 of this Law, depending on the circumstances; where the act of infringement damages public interests at the same time, the administration department for copyright may order him to cease the act of tort, may give him a warning, may confiscate his illegal gains, confiscate and harmlessly destroy and dispose of the reproductions of infringement and the materials, instruments and equipment, etc. mainly used to make the reproductions of infringement; where the illegal business gains are not less than RMB50,000 Yuan, a fine of not less than one time and not more than five times the amount of the illegal business gains may also be imposed; where there is no illegal business gain or the illegal business gains are difficult to calculate or are less than RMB50,000 Yuan, a fine of not more than RMB250,000 Yuan may also be imposed; where his act has constituted a crime, he shall be investigated for criminal liabilities in accordance with the law:

(1) without the permission from the copyright owner, reproducing, distributing, performing, projecting, broadcasting, compiling, disseminating to the public through information network his works, except where otherwise provided in this Law;

(2) publishing a book where the exclusive right of publication belongs to another;

(3) without the permission from a performer, reproducing, distributing the sound recordings or video recordings of his performance, or disseminating his performance to the public through information network, except where otherwise provided in this Law;

(4) without the permission from a producer of sound recordings and video recordings, reproducing, distributing, disseminating to the public through information network the sound recordings or video recordings produced by him, except where otherwise provided in this Law;

(5) without the permission, broadcasting, reproducing, disseminating to the public through information network the radio or television, except where otherwise provided in this Law;

(6) without the permission from the copyright owner or owner of copyright-related rights, intentionally circumventing or destroying the technical measures, intentionally manufacture, import or provide others devices or components mainly used to circumvent or destroy the technical measures, or intentionally provide technical services for others to circumvent or destroy the technical measures, except where otherwise provided in laws or administrative regulations;

(7) without the permission from the copyright owner or owner of copyright-related rights, intentionally deleting or altering the information on the management of the rights on a work, layout design, sound recording, video recording, radio or television, or making a work, layout design, performance, sound recording, video recording, radio or television available to the public while knowing or supposed to know that the information on the management of rights thereon has been deleted or altered without permission, except where otherwise provided in laws or administrative regulations;

(8) producing or selling a work where the signature of another is counterfeited.

Article 54 The infringer shall, when having infringed upon the copyright or the copyright related rights, make a compensation on the basis of the right owner’s actual losses suffered therefrom or the infringer’s illegal gains; where the right owner’s actual losses or the infringer’s illegal gains are difficult to be calculated, the compensation may be made by reference to the exploitation fee of the right. For intentional infringement on the copyright or the copyright-related rights with serious circumstances, the amount of compensation may be determined at more than one time and less than five times the amount determined according to the above method.

Where it is difficult to determine the right owner’s actual losses, the infringer’s illegal gains and the exploitation fee of the right, the people's court may award the damages of not less than RMB 500 Yuan and not more than RMB 5, 000, 000 Yuan in light of the circumstances of the act of infringement.

The amount of compensation shall also include the reasonable expenses paid by the right owner for stopping the act of tort.

In order to determine the amount for compensation, under the circumstances where the right owner has endeavored to present evidence, and the related account books or materials are mainly in control by the infringer, the people’s court may order the infringer to provide account books and materials relating to the act of infringement; if the infringer does not provide or provides false account books or materials, the people’s court may rule on the amount of compensation based on the claims of and the evidence provided by the right owner. 

In trying copyright dispute cases, the people's court shall, at the request of the right owner, order the destruction of reproductions of infringement, except in special circumstances; order the destruction of materials, tools and devices mainly used to manufacture the reproductions of infringement, without compensation; or, in special circumstances, order the prohibition of the aforementioned materials, tools and devices from entering commercial channels, without compensation. 

Article 55 The administration department for copyright, in investigating suspected acts of infringement of copyrights or copyright-related rights, may inquire of relevant parties concerned,  investigate into the circumstances relating to the suspected illegal acts, conduct an on-site inspection of the premises where the parties concerned have carried out the suspected illegal acts and of the articles relating to the suspected illegal acts, examine or reproduce the contracts, invoices and account books and other materials relating to the suspected illegal acts, and seal, seize or close down the articles and premises relating to the suspected illegal acts.

When the administration department for copyright exercises the powers as provided for in the preceding paragraph, the parties concerned shall give assistance and cooperate, and must not refuse or obstruct to do so.

Article 56 Where a copyright owner or an owner of copyright-related rights has evidence to prove that another is committing or is going to commit an act infringing upon his right or hindering its realization, and that his lawful rights and interests will suffer the damage which is difficult to be remedied if he does not stop it in time, he may, before bringing a lawsuit, apply to the people’s court for property preservation or for an order to take certain acts or prohibit certain acts in accordance with the law.

Article 57 For the purpose of stopping the acts of tort, a copyright owner or an owner of copyright-related rights may, under circumstances that the evidence may be destroyed or lost or difficult to obtain later on, apply to the people’s court for the evidence to be preserved in accordance with the law.

Article 58 The people’s court may, when trying the cases of infringing upon copyright or copyright-related rights, confiscate the illegal gains, the reproductions of infringement and the properties used for committing illegal acts.

Article 59 Where a publisher or producer of reproductions is unable to prove the lawful authorization of his publication or production, or the distributor of the reproductions or the lessor of the reproductions of an audio-visual work, computer software, sound recordings or video recordings is unable to prove the lawful sources of his distribution or lease of the reproductions, he shall bear the legal liabilities.

In legal proceedings, where the sued infringer claims that he is not liable for tort, he shall provide evidence that he has obtained permission from the right owner, or that there is circumstance under which he may use such work without permission from the right owner as provided in this Law.

Article 60 A dispute over copyright may be settled by mediation or be submitted for arbitration to a copyright arbitration institution under a written arbitration agreement concluded between the parties concerned, or under the arbitration clause in the copyright contract.

Any party may bring a lawsuit directly to the people’s court in the absence of a written arbitration agreement or an arbitration clause in the copyright contract.

Article 61 Where a party concerned bears civil liabilities because he does not implement his contractual obligations or his implementation of the contractual obligations does not conform to the stipulated requirements, and where a party concerned exercises his litigation rights and petitions for preservation, etc., the provisions of relevant laws shall be applicable.

Article 62 The term “author’s right” shall have the same meaning as “copyright” in this Law.

Article 63 The term “publication” mentioned in Article 2 of this Law shall refer to reproduction and distribution of works.

Article 64 Regulations for the protection of computer software and of the right of information network dissemination shall be established separately by the State Council.

Article 65 In terms of a photographic work, where the term of the right of publication and the rights provided in Items (5) through (17) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of this Law has expired but such rights are still within the term of protection in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 23 of this Law before June 1, 2021, they shall no longer be protected.

Article 66 The rights of copyright owners, publishers, performers, producers of sound recordings and video recordings, radio stations and television stations as provided in this Law, of which the term of protection specified in this Law has not yet expired on the date of this Law’s entry into force, shall be protected in accordance with this Law.

Any infringements upon copyright and copyright-related rights or breaches of contract committed prior to the entry into force of this Law shall be dealt with under the relevant regulations in force at the time when the infringement was committed.

Article 67 This Law shall enter into force on June 1, 1991.