The “Copyright Law” will come into effect on June 1, 2021

On November 11, 2020, the 23rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress voted and passed the decision on amending the “Copyright Law”. The revised “Copyright Law” will come into effect on June 1, 2021. For the majority of enterprises, the following modifications deserve special attention:

The scope of the object of works has been modified.

The “film works and works created using methods similar to film making” is revised as the “audio-visual works”. Such modification delete “filming” as a requirement or reference requirement on the identification of relevant works, which means the new types of works, such as musical fountain shows, live online games and etc. would be identified as works easier in the future. In addition, the general description article of works as “any other works stipulated by laws and administrative regulations” is revised as “any other intellectual achievements which comply with the characteristics of the works”, which means the identification of the object of works will be more open-minded.

For the objects which could not be deemed as works, the “current affairs news” is revised as the “pure factual information”, which means the requirement on the expression of fact has been removed.

To clarify disputes on the copyright ownership.

In practice, there are many disputes on the ownership of a work of joint authorship. The revised “Copyright Law” stipulates that copyright in a work of joint authorship shall be exercised by co-authors upon negotiation and agreement; where the co-authors are unable to reach an agreement following negotiation and there is no proper reason, any co-author shall not prevent the other party from exercising other rights other than transfer or licensing of exclusive use or pledge to others, provided however that the income derived shall be distributed fairly among all co-authors.

In addition, regarding the disputes on the ownership of the “audio-visual works”, the revised “Copyright Law” stipulates that copyright in a cinematographic work or television drama work included in an audio-visual work shall belong to the producer; however, the screenwriter, director, cameraman, lyricist, composer and other authors of the work shall have the right of authorship, and the right to obtain remuneration pursuant to the contract entered into with the producer.

To increase the punishments for copyright infringement

(1) To adjust the method of determining tort liability

The revised “Copyright Law” lists the actual losses of the right holder and the illegal gains of the infringer as the first order, and there is no longer a priority.

(2) To increase the amount of punitive damages and statutory damages

The revised “Copyright Law” stipulates that for intentional infringement, where the case is serious, compensation may be paid ranging from one to five times the compensation amount; where it is difficult to compute the actual losses of the holder of rights, the illegal income of the infringer or the royalties, the court could rule on compensation with the maximum amount is up RMB 5 million based on the extent of the infringement.

(3) To add the regulations that the materials, tools and equipment used mainly for manufacturing the infringing replicas should be destroyed without compensation at the request of the holder of rights.