Guides & FAQs

Copyright shall include the following personality 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 a work by printing, photocopying, lithographing, making a sound recording or video recording, duplicating a recording, or duplicating a photographic work or by any other means;

(6) the right of distribution, that is, the right to make available to the public the original or reproductions of a work though sale or other transfer of ownership;

(7) the right of rental, that is, the right to authorize, with payment, others to temporarily use cinematographic works, works created by virtue of an analogous method of film production, and computer software, except any computer software that is not the main subject matter of rental;

(8) the right of exhibition, that is, the right to publicly display the original or reproduction of a work of fine art and photography;

(9) the right of performance, that is, the right to publicly perform a work and publicly broadcast the performance of a work by various means;

(10) the right of showing, that is, the right to show to the public a work, of fine art, photography, cinematography and any work created by analogous methods of film production through film projectors, over-head projectors or any other technical devices;

(11) the right of broadcast, that is, the right to publicly broadcast or communicate to the public a work by wireless means, to communicate to the public a broadcast work by wire or relay means, and to communicate to the public a broadcast work by a loudspeaker or by any other analogous tool used to transmit symbols, sounds or pictures;

(12) the right of communication of information on networks, that is, the right to communicate to the public a work, by wire or wireless means in such a way that members of the public may access these works from a place and at a time individually chosen by them;

(13) the right of making cinematographic work, that is, the right to fixate a work on a carrier by way of film production or by virtue of an analogous method of film production;

(14) the right of adaptation, that is, the right to change a work to create a new work of originality;

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

(16) the right of compilation, that is, the right to compile works or parts of works into a new work by reason of the selection or arrangement; and

(17) any other rights a copyright owner is entitled to enjoy.    A copyright owner may authorize another person to exercise the rights under the preceding paragraphs (5) to (17), and receive remuneration pursuant to an agreement or this Law.    A copyright owner may assign, in part or in whole, the rights under the preceding paragraphs (5) to (17), and receive remuneration pursuant to an agreement or this Law.

Works of Chinese citizens, legal entities or other organizations, whether published or not, shall enjoy copyright in accordance with Chinese Copyright Law.

Any work of a foreigner or stateless person which is eligible to enjoy copyright under an agreement concluded between the country to which the foreigner belongs or in which he has habitual residence and China, or under an international treaty to which both countries are party, shall be protected in accordance with Chinese Copyright Law.

Works of foreigners or stateless persons first published in the territory of the People's Republic of China shall enjoy copyright in accordance with the Law.

Any work of a foreigner who belongs to a country which has not concluded an agreement with China, or which is not a party to an international treaty with China or a stateless person first published in an country which is a party to an international treaty with China, or in such a member state or nonmember state, shall be protected in accordance with the Law.

(1) written works;
(2) oral works;
(3) musical, dramatic, quyi, choreographic and acrobatic works;
(4) works of fine art and architecture;
(5) photographic works;
(6) cinematographic works and works created by virtue of an analogous method of film production;
(7) drawings of engineering designs, and product designs; maps, sketches and other graphic works and model works;
(8) computer software;
(9) other works as provided for in laws and administrative regulations.

(1) Works the publication or distribution of which is prohibited by law;
(2) laws; regulations; resolutions, decisions and orders of State organs; other documents of a legislative, administrative or judicial nature; and their official translations;
(3) news on current affairs; and
(4) calendars, numerical tables and forms of general use, and formulas.

In the following cases, a work may be exploited without permission from, and without payment of remuneration to, the copyright owner, provided that the name of the author and the title of the work shall be mentioned and the other rights enjoyed by the copyright owner by virtue of this Law shall not be prejudiced:

(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 to, or comments on, a work, or demonstration of a point;

(3) reuse or citation, for any unavoidable reason, of a published work in newspapers, periodicals, at radio stations, television stations or any other media for the purpose of reporting current events;

(4) reprinting by newspapers or periodicals, or rebroadcasting by radio stations, television stations, or any other media, of articles on current issues relating to politics, economics or religion published by other newspapers, periodicals, or broadcast by other radio stations, television stations or any other media except where the author has declared that the reprinting and rebroadcasting is not permitted;

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

(6) translation, or reproduction in a small quantity of copies, of a published work for use by teachers or scientific researchers, in classroom teaching or scientific research, provided that the translation or reproduction shall not be published or distributed;

(7) use of a published work, within proper scope, by a State organ 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 or any similar institution, for the purposes of the display, or preservation of a copy, of the work;

(9) free-of-charge live performance of a published work and said performance neither collects any fees from the members of the public nor pays remuneration to the performers;

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

(11) translation of a published work of a Chinese citizen, legal entity or any other organization from the Han language into any minority nationality language for publication and distribution within the country; and

(12) transliteration of a published work into Braille and publication of the work so transliterated.   The above limitations on rights shall be applicable also to the rights of publishers, performers, producers of sound recordings and video recordings, radio stations and television stations.

Subject to provisions in Chinese Copyright Law according to which no permission is needed, anyone who exploits a work created by others shall conclude a contract with, or otherwise obtain permission from, the copyright owner.

A licensing contract shall include the following basic clauses:
(1) the category of right licensed for exploitation of 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 geographic area and term of the license;
(4) the standard of remuneration and the method of payment;'
(5) the liability in case of breach of the contract; and
(6) any other matter that the contracting parties consider necessary.

(1) title of the work;
(2) category and geographic area of the assigned right;
(3) assignment price;
(4) date and manner of payment of the assignment price;
(5) liabilities for breach of the contract; and
(6) any other matters that the contracting parties consider necessary.

• Reconciliation;
• Mediation;
• Arbitratio;
• Litigation

See details on Requirements for Registration of Copyright of Computer Software in China

See details on Requirements for Registration of Copyright of Works in China