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I. Briefing
of Chinese Copyright
¡¡¡¡The copyright protection system of China is established
based on the Constitution, Civil Law, Criminal Law,
Heritage Law and Copyright Law. The current Copyright
Law makes comparatively clear and complete regulations
on copyright and its protection, it is the basic law
of China on copyright protection.
¡¡¡¡The Copyright Law was approved by the 15th Meeting
of the 7th Session of the Executive Committee of the
People's Congress of China, and became effective on
June 1, 1991. On October 27, 2001, it was amended based
on the Decision on Amendments of the Copyright Law of
the People's Republic of China made by the 24th Meeting
of the 9th Session of the Executive Committee of the
People's Congress of China. On May 30, 1991, The Chinese
Copyright Bureau, approved by the Chinese State Council,
promulgated the Implementing Regulations of the Copyright
Law of the People's Republic of China, which also became
effective on June 1, 1991. The State Council amended
the Implementing Regulations based on the amended Copyright
Law, and the new Implementing Regulations was promulgated
on August 2, 2002 and became effective on September
15, 2002.
¡¡¡¡In addition, to regulate the protection of computer
software copyrights, the Chinese State Council promulgated
the Protection Regulations on Computer Software on June
4, 1991, which became effective on October 1, 1991.
¡¡¡¡China also joined Berne Convention on July 10, 1992,
this Convention became effective in China on October
15, 1992. China further joined World Copyright Convention
on July 30, 1992, this Convention became effective in
China on October 30, 1992.
(I) Subject of Copyright (Copyright Owner)
¡¡¡¡1. Author, citizen directly creates the work, including
independent author and co-authors
¡¡¡¡2. Legal person author, legal person or non-legal
person organization, in charge of the creation of work,
the work created on behalf of the willingness of them
and they bear responsibility for the work;
¡¡¡¡3. Successor through heritage: in addition to the
right of publication of succeeded work, successors normally
can only enjoy economic rights but not mental rights
¡¡¡¡4. Person or legal person obtained copyright through
contract, if there is no contract or contract does not
regulate the ownership, the copyright belongs to the
requestee
¡¡¡¡5. Where the copyright owner is a legal person or
non-legal person organization and it is changed or terminated,
the right of use and obtaining rewards of the copyright
belong to the legal person or non-legal person organization
through heritage.
¡¡¡¡6. The State, if there is no successor of the copyrights
due to change or termination of legal person or non-legal
person organization, the copyright belongs to the State
(II) Main rights of Copyright Owner endowed by the Chinese
Copyright Law
¡¡¡¡1. Right of publication, namely right to decide whether
to publish the work
¡¡¡¡2. Right of signature, namely right to sign on the
work and right to identify himself/itself as the author
¡¡¡¡3. Right of amendment, namely right to amend or authorize
other people to amend the work
¡¡¡¡4. Right to maintain the completeness of the work,
namely right to against un-authorized amendment or distortion
of the work
¡¡¡¡5. Right to use and obtain rewards, namely right to
copy, perform, display, exhibit, release, filming, televising,
recording and adapting, translation, indicating, etc.
and obtain rewards by licensing other people to use
the work through the aforementioned ways.
II. Registration of Copyright
¡¡¡¡The Chinese Copyright Law was promulgated in 1990
and became effective on June 1, 1991. Since China joined
Berne Convention in October 1992, when a work is completed
in one of the member state of the Berne Convention,
it enjoys copyright protection in China automatically.
However, to a work finished in a non-member state, to
enjoy copyright protection, the work should be first
published in a member state of Berne Convention. The
protection term of Chinese copyright to an individual
author is the whole life and the 50 years after death,
if the author is an entity, it is 50 years from the
first publication of the work.
¡¡¡¡In accordance with the Chinese law and practice, it
is not compulsory to register copyright of a work, however,
registration is suggested in order to handle copyright
disputes more conveniently, this is because the registration
certificate can be regarded as a prima facie evidence
of ownership.
¡¡¡¡To obtain a copyright registration in China, a foreign
applicant must entrust a Chinese agency to file an application
with the Chinese Copyright Office. The Chinese Copyright
Office has its branch offices in each province or municipality,
like the Shanghai Copyright Office, to handle the application
and issue the registration certificate which is valid
nationwide in China.
(I) Necessary Informaiton and Requirements
¡¡¡¡1. Name(s), address(es), zip code, nationality(ies)
of the copyright owner(s), name and telephone number
of the person to contact; evidence(s) showing the identification
of the copyright owner(s), i.e.,
¡¡¡¡¡¡1) For individual owner (including the heir of copyright),
notarized copy of identification card.
¡¡¡¡¡¡2) For entity as owner, notarized copy of business
license, etc..
¡¡¡¡2. Name(s), address(es), zip cope, nationality(ies),
birthday(s), date(s) of death (if deceased), number(s)
of the identification card(s) of the author(s); name
and telephone number of the person to contact.
¡¡¡¡3. Power of Attorney, which shall be signed and dated
by the copyright owner(s); if there are more than one
owners, the Power of Attorney may be signed either by
all owners, or by one owner representing all the other
owners together with an authorization to said owner
by all the other owners.
¡¡¡¡4. A brief description of the work to be registered.
¡¡¡¡5. Data relating to the work.
¡¡¡¡¡¡1) The title, type and date of completion of the
work.
¡¡¡¡¡¡2) Whether or not the work has ever been published,
if yes, date and place of its first publication; title,
issue/volume and page numbers of series/collection/journal/
magazine in which the work was once published and date
of the publication;
¡¡¡¡¡¡3) If in deductive form, the title and registration
number (if any) of the original work, type of the deductive
form, such as the recomposed, the translated, the compiled,
the rearranged and the annotated, etc.;
¡¡¡¡6. If the copyright of the work has been licensed
to a third party, then,
¡¡¡¡¡¡1) Notarized copy of the license contract;
¡¡¡¡¡¡2) Name, address (including post code) of the licensee;
¡¡¡¡¡¡3) Information on the method and duration of the
license;
¡¡¡¡¡¡4) Name and telephone number of the person to contact
to (if any).
¡¡¡¡7. Notarized copy of commissioning contract for a
commissioned work.
¡¡¡¡8. Notarized copy of assignment from the original
owner to the current copyright owner(s) if the copyright
has been assigned.
(II) Notes:
¡¡¡¡1. If there is a group of works which are published
on newspaper/magazine/journal within one year, these
works may be registered at the same time in one application
and pay one registration fee.
¡¡¡¡2. A registration application for supplements to the
same work may be filed with the routine filing fee.
However, supplements can be only added to the work's
contents, no change is acceptable.
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