Copyright law

Circumstances under which works of foreigners enjoy the protection of the Copyright Law

In accordance with Copyright Law Article 2, works of Chinese citizens, legal persons or other organization, whether published or not, shall enjoy copyright in accordance with law.

And foreigners and stateless persons may enjoy copyright under the following three circumstances:

1. Any agreement is concluded between the country to which the foreigner belongs or lives as habitual residence and China, or under an international treaty to which both countries are parties.

2. Works of foreigners first published in the territory of the People’s Republic of China.

3. Works of foreigners first published in the territory of member states shared a common international treaty with China, or first published in the territory of both member states and non-member states.