Chapter I: General Provisions

Article 1: This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution so as to protect the copyrights of authors of literary, artistic, and scientific works, as well as copyright-related rights and interests, to encourage the creation and dissemination of works that are beneficial to the building of socialist spiritual and material civilizations, and to promote the development and prosperity of socialist cultural and scientific undertakings.

Article 2 The works of Chinese citizens, legal persons, or other organizations, regardless of whether they are published or not, enjoy copyright in accordance with this Law.

The copyrights enjoyed by foreigners and stateless persons in accordance with the agreements signed between the country of their authors or the country of habitual residence and China or the international treaties to which they are parties are protected by this Law.

Where the works of foreigners or stateless persons are first published within the territory of China, they enjoy copyright in accordance with this Law.

Authors of countries that have not signed an agreement with China or who are jointly parties to international treaties, as well as works of stateless persons, are published for the first time in a member state of an international treaty to which China is a party, or where they are published simultaneously in a member state and a non-member state at the same time, are protected by this Law.

Article 3: "Works" as used in this Law includes works of literature, art, natural sciences, social sciences, engineering technology, and so forth created in the following forms:

(1) Written works;

(2) oral works;

(3) Music, drama, opera, dance, or acrobatic works of art;

(4) Works of fine arts and architecture;

(5) Photographic works;

(6) Cinematographic works and works created by methods similar to those used to produce films;

(7) Engineering design drawings, product design drawings, maps, schematic diagrams and other graphic works and model works;

(8) computer software;

(9) Other works provided for by laws and administrative regulations.

Article 4: Copyright holders must not violate the Constitution and laws in exercising copyright, and must not harm the public interest. The state is to supervise and manage the publication and dissemination of works in accordance with law.

Article 5 This Law does not apply to:

(1) Laws, regulations, resolutions, decisions, orders, and other documents of a legislative, administrative, or judicial nature, as well as official translations thereof;

(2) Current affairs news;

(3) Calendars, tables of common numbers, tables and formulas.

Article 6: Measures for the protection of copyright in folklore and artistic works are to be separately formulated by the State Council.

Article 7: The State Council's administrative department for copyright management is in charge of copyright management throughout the country, and the copyright administrative departments of the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government are in charge of copyright management in their respective administrative regions.

Article 8: Copyright holders and copyright-related rights holders may authorize collective copyright management organizations to exercise copyrights or copyright-related rights. After being authorized, a collective copyright management organization may assert rights in its own name for copyright holders and copyright-related rights holders, and may act as a party to litigation or arbitration activities involving copyright or copyright-related rights.

Copyright collective management organizations are non-profit organizations, and the State Council shall separately stipulate the methods of establishment, rights and obligations, the collection and distribution of copyright licensing fees, and the supervision and management of copyright royalties.

Chapter II: Copyright

Section 1: Copyright Owners and Their Rights

Article 9 Copyright holders include:

(1) Authors;

(2) Other citizens, legal persons, or other organizations that enjoy copyright in accordance with this Law.

Article 10: Copyright includes the following personal rights and property rights:

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

(2) the right of authorship, that is, the right to indicate the identity of the author and sign the work;

(3) the right to modify, that is, the right to modify or authorize others to modify the work;

(4) the right to protect the integrity of the work, that is, the right to protect the work from distortion or tampering;

(5) the right of reproduction, that is, the right to make one or more copies of a work by means of printing, photocopying, rubbing, audio recording, video recording, ripping, reproduction, etc.;

(6) the right of distribution, that is, the right to make the original or copy of the work available to the public by way of sale or gift;

(7) The right to lease, that is, the right to permit others to temporarily use film works and works created by methods similar to film production, and computer software for a fee, except where computer software is not the main subject of rental;

(8) the right to exhibit, that is, the right to publicly display the originals or reproductions of works of art or photography;

(9) the right of performance, that is, the right to perform works in public, as well as the right to publicly broadcast performances of works by various means;

(10) The right of screening, that is, the right to publicly reproduce fine arts, photography, films, and works created by methods similar to filmmaking through projectors, slide projectors, and other technical equipment;

(11) the right of broadcasting, that is, the right to publicly broadcast or disseminate works by wireless means, to communicate the broadcast works to the public by means of cable transmission or retransmission, and the right to disseminate the broadcast works to the public through loudspeakers or other similar means of transmitting symbols, sounds, images;

(12) the right of information network dissemination, that is, the right to make works available to the public by wire or wireless means, so that the public can obtain the works at a time and place of their own choosing;

(13) the right of filming, that is, the right to fix the work on the carrier by filming a film or by a method similar to that of filming;

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

(15) the right of translation, i.e., the right to convert a work from one language to another;

(16) the right of compilation, that is, the right to assemble a work or a fragment of a work into a new work through selection or arrangement;

(17) Other rights that shall be enjoyed by the copyright owner.

Copyright owners may permit others to exercise the rights provided for in items (5) through (17) of the preceding paragraph, and receive remuneration in accordance with the agreement or the relevant provisions of this Law.

Copyright owners may transfer in whole or in part the rights provided for in items (5) through (17) of the first paragraph of this Article, and receive remuneration in accordance with the agreement or the relevant provisions of this Law.

Section 2: Copyright Attribution

Article 11: Copyrights belong to the authors, except as otherwise provided in this Law.

The citizen who creates the work is the author.

A work that is presided over by a legal person or other organization, created on behalf of the will of the legal person or other organization, and for which the legal person or other organization bears responsibility, is regarded as the author.

In the absence of proof to the contrary, the citizen, legal person or other organization that signed the work is the author.

Article 12: The copyright of a work produced by adapting, translating, annotating, or arranging an existing work is enjoyed by the person who adapted, translated, annotated, or arranged, but the copyright of the original work must not be infringed upon when exercising copyright.

Article 13: The copyright of a work created by two or more persons jointly is jointly enjoyed by the co-authors. Those who do not participate in the creation cannot become co-authors.

Where a collaborative work may be used separately, the authors may separately enjoy the copyright for the part of their respective creations, but the copyright of the collaborative work as a whole must not be infringed upon when exercising the copyright.