Article 1    These Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter, the "Copyright Law").
 
Article 2    For the purposes of the Copyright Law, work(s) shall mean original intellectual achievements in the literary, artistic, and scientific domains that can be reproduced in a tangible form.
 
Article 3    For the purposes of the Copyright Law, creation shall mean intellectual activities that directly produce literary, artistic, or scientific works.
Conducting organizational work, offering consulting advice or material conditions, or providing other forms of support for another's creation shall not be considered a creation.
 
Article 4    For the purposes of the Copyright Law and these Regulations:
(1) "Written works" refer to novels, poems, prose, treatises, and other works that are expressed in word form;
(2) "Oral works" refer to impromptu speeches, lectures, court debates, and other works that are expressed in oral form;
(3) "Musical works" refer to songs, symphonies, and other works, with or without lyrics, that can be sung or played;
(4) "Dramatic works" refer to dramas, operas, local operas, and other works that are created for stage performance;
(5) "Quyi works" refer to works mainly performed by talking and singing, such as "xiangsheng" (comic dialogues), "kuaishu" (quick-patter, a kind of oral performance), "dagu" (ballad with drum accompaniment), "pingshu" (storytelling based on classic novels), etc;
(6) "Choreographic works" refer to works that express thoughts and feelings through successive movements, postures, facial expressions, etc;
(7) "Acrobatic works" refer to acrobatics, magic, circus, and other performance works that are expressed through bodily movements and techniques;
(8) "Fine art works" refer to paintings, calligraphy, sculptures, and other two-or- three-dimensional aesthetic works of formative arts that are formed by lines, colors, and/or other patterns;
(9) "Architectural works" refer to aesthetic works in the form of a building or a structure;
(10) "Photographic works" refer to artworks that are created by recording images of objects on light-sensitive materials or other media with the aid of instruments;
(11) "Cinematographic works and works created by means similar to cinematography" refer to works filmed on a certain medium, consisting of images with or without accompanying sounds, and disseminated with the aid of certain appropriate devices or other methods;
(12) "Graphic works" refer to works such as engineering design drawings and product design drawings created for construction or production purpose, as well as maps and schematic drawings created to show a geographical phenomena or demonstrate a principle or structure of a matter;
(13) "Model works" refer to three-dimensional works made to a certain scale on the basis of the shape and structure of objects, for the purpose of display, test, or observation, etc.
 
Article 5    For the purposes of the Copyright Law and these Regulations:
(1) "News on current events" shall mean fact-only news reported via newspaper, periodicals, radio stations, television stations, or other media;
(2) "Sound recording" refers to a recording of the sound of a performance or of another type of sound;
(3) "Visual recording" refers to a recording of successive and related images or pictures with or without accompanying sounds, excluding cinematographic works or works created by means similar to cinematography;
(4) "Sound recording producer" refers to the original producer of a sound recording;
(5) "Visual recording producer" refers to the original producer of a visual recording;
(6) "Performer" refers to an actor or actress, an organization of performing artists, or any other person who performs a literary or artistic work.
 
Article 6    Copyright exists from the date when the creation of a work is completed.
 
Article 7    Where a work of a foreigner or stateless person is first published in the People's Republic of China, as stipulated in Paragraph 3 of Article 2 of the Copyright Law, protection of the copyright in that work shall take effect from the date of its first publication.
 
Article 8    Where a foreigner or stateless person's work is published in China within 30 days after its first publication outside China, the work shall be considered as having been simultaneously published in China.
 
Article 9    Where a jointly created work may not be divided for separate use, the copyright in the work shall be jointly owned by the joint authors, and shall be exercised according to a consensus reached through consultation. If no consensus has been reached, nor has a justified reason been provided, none of the parties shall prevent the other party(ies) from exercising a right other than the transfer right, provided that the gains shall be reasonably distributed to all the joint authors.
 
Article 10    Where a copyright owner authorizes others to make a cinematographic work or a work created by means similar to cinematography based on a copyright owner's work, the copyright owner shall be considered to have agreed to the necessary alteration of that work, provided that such alteration shall not falsify or distort the original work.
 
Article 11    The term "task", set forth in the provisions concerning works for hire in Paragraph 1 of Article 16 of the Copyright Law, refers to a duty which a citizen shall perform as a member of that legal person or organization
The term "material and technical conditions", set forth in the provisions concerning works for hire in Paragraph 2 of Article 16 of the Copyright Law, refers to funds, equipment, or materials provided by that legal person or organization solely for the purpose of the citizen's completion of his or her creation.
 
Article 12    If, within two years of the completion of a work for hire, an author authorizes a third person, subject to the employer's consent, to use the work in the same manner as the employer uses the work, remuneration received thereby shall be shared between the author and the employer according to the agreed proportionate ratio.
The two-year period following the completion of a work shall be calculated from the date of the author's delivery of that work to the employer.
 
Article 13    With respect to a work of which the author's identity is unknown, the copyrights other than right of authorship shall be exercised by the owner of the original version of the work. Upon ascertaining the author's identity, copyright shall be exercised by the author or a successor of the author.
 
Article 14    Where any of the joint authors of a jointly created work dies, and no one is to inherit, or receive as a bequest, the rights in the work to which the deceased author is entitled, as specified in Items (5) to (17) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of the Copyright Law, the rights shall be enjoyed by the other joint authors.
 
Article 15    After an author passes away, the rights of authorship, alteration, and integrity of his or her copyright shall be protected by the author's heir or legatee.
Where there is neither an heir nor a legatee to receive a copyright, the rights of authorship, alteration, and integrity thereof shall be protected by a copyright administrative department.
 
Article 16    Where the copyright in a work is vested in the State, the use of that work shall be administered by the State Council's copyright administrative department.
 
Article 17    With respect to a deceased author's unpublished work, if the author did not clearly indicate that the work should not be published, the right of publication for that work may, within 50 years of the author's death, be exercised by an heir or legatee; or otherwise by the owner of the original version of the work, if no heirs or legatees exist.
 
Article 18    Where the identity of a work's author is unknown, the term of protection for the rights in that work (Note: property rights under copyright), specified in Items (5) to (17) of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of the Copyright Law, shall end on 31 December of the 50th year after the work's first publication. After the author's identity is ascertained, the provisions of Article 21 of the Copyright Law shall apply.
 
Article 19    The use of another's work shall specify the names of the author and the work, unless the parties agree otherwise, or such information cannot be specified due to the manner in which the work is used.
 
Article 20    For the purposes of the Copyright Law, a published work shall mean a work made available to the public by the copyright owner or by another party with the copyright owner's authorization.
 
Article 21    The use of a published work without the copyright owner's authorization, as stated in the relevant provisions of the Copyright Law, shall neither affect the normal use of the work, nor harm, in an unreasonable manner, the copyright owner's lawful rights and interest.
 
Article 22    Remuneration rates for using works in accordance with Article 23, Paragraph 2 of Article 32, and Paragraph 3 of Article 39 of the Copyright Law shall be jointly formulated and promulgated by the State Council's copyright administrative department and the State Council's department in charge of pricing.
  
Article 23    The use of another's work shall be subject to the conclusion of a licensing contract with the copyright owner. Where a right to be licensed for use is exclusive, the contract shall be in written form, unless the work is to be published by a newspaper or periodical publisher.
 
Article 24    The details of the exclusive use right under Article 24 of the Copyright Law shall be specified in a contract. Where no provisions or inexplicit provisions therein are included in that contract, the licensee shall be considered to be entitled to exclude any person (including the copyright owner) from using the work in the same manner. Unless otherwise agreed upon in the contract, the licensee must obtain the copyright owner's authorization before authorizing a third person to exercise the same right.
 
Article 25    Where an exclusive licensing contract or transfer contract is concluded with a copyright owner, that contract may be filed with a copyright administrative department for record.
 
Article 26    For the purposes of the Copyright Law and these Provisions, copyright-related rights and interests shall mean a publisher's rights to the layout design of a book or periodical which is published by that publisher, a performer's rights to a performance thereof, a producer's rights to a sound or visual recording which is produced by that producer, and a radio or television station's rights to a radio or television program which it has broadcast.
 
Article 27    Publishers, performers, sound or visual recording producers, radio stations and television stations shall not harm the rights of the copyright owners of both the used and original works in exercising their rights.
 
Article 28    Where a contract for book publishing specifies that the book publisher is entitled to an exclusive publishing right, but fails to clarify the specific details of that right, the book publisher shall be considered to enjoy the exclusive right to publish the original edition or a revised edition of the book in the same language during the term of the contract and within the territory agreed upon therein.
 
Article 29    Failure to perform two orders sent by a book's copyright owner to the publisher within six months shall be considered as out of stock referred to in Article 31 of the Copyright Law.
 
Article 30    Where a copyright owner declares, in accordance with Paragraph 2 of Article 32 of the Copyright Law, that republishing or excerpting/compiling of a work of that copyright owner is prohibited, the publication of that work in a newspaper or periodical shall be accompanied by the declaration.
 
Article 31    Where a copyright owner declares, in accordance with Paragraph 3 of Article 39 of the Copyright Law, that the production of a sound recording based on a work of that copyright owner is prohibited, the legal production of a sound recording based on that work shall be accompanied by the declaration.
 
Article 32    Where another's work is used in accordance with Article 23, Paragraph 2 of Article 32, or Paragraph 3 of Article 39 of the Copyright Law, remuneration shall be paid to the copyright owner within two months of the date when the work begins to be used.
 
Article 33    A performance presented by a foreigner or stateless person inside China shall be protected under the Copyright Law.
Where a foreigner or stateless person is entitled, under an international treaty to which China has acceded, to a right in his or her performance, the right shall be protected under the Copyright Law.
 
Article 34    A sound recording produced and/or distributed inside China by a foreigner or stateless person shall be protected under the Copyright Law.
Where a foreigner or stateless person is entitled, under an international treaty to which China has acceded, to a right in a sound recording that he or she has produced and/or distributed, the right shall be protected under the Copyright Law.
 
Article 35    Where a foreign radio or television station is entitled, under an international treaty to which China has acceded, to a right in a program that the station has broadcast, the right shall be protected under the Copyright Law.
 
Article 36    Where an infringement act listed under Article 47 of the Copyright Law is committed and harms the social public interest, a copyright administrative department may impose a fine of not more than three times the illegal operational gains obtained thereby; or may otherwise impose a fine of not more than RMB100,000, if it is difficult to calculate the illegal operational gains.
 
Article 37    In the event of an infringement listed under Article 47 of the Copyright Law, if the infringement also harms the social public interest, a copyright administrative department of a local people's government shall be responsible for the investigation of and punishment against the infringement.
With respect to infringement that has caused a significant national impact, the State Council's copyright administrative department may conduct an investigation and impose punishment thereon.
 
Article 38    These Regulations shall take effect as of 15 September 2002.At the same time, the Copyright Law Implementing Regulations of the People's Republic of China, as approved by the State Council on 24 May 1991 and promulgated by the National Copyright Administration on 30 May 1991, shall be repealed.