Commons:Copyright rules by territory/China

Copyright rules of People's Republic of China Shortcut: COM:China
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Anonymous	Publish + 50 years
Audiovisual	Publish + 50 years
Other
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-China}} {{PD-PRC-exempt}}
Treaties
Berne convention	15 October 1992
Univ. Copyright Convention	30 October 1992
WTO member	11 December 2001
URAA restoration date	1 January 1996
WIPO treaty	9 June 2007

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of the People's Republic of China relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in China must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both China and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from China, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Different legal regimes and copyright terms apply in the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, and in Taiwan.

Background

China has been independent for centuries, first as an empire and then since 1912 as a republic. Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842, and in 1 July 1997 was returned to China as a special administrative region. In 1887 Portugal gained rights to Macao, which was returned to China as a special administrative region in 1999. The Japanese seized Manchuria in 1931 and created the puppet state of Manchukuo. This was returned to China in 1946.

After the Chinese Civil War the government of the Republic of China fled to Taiwan in 1949, but continued to claim to be the legitimate government of mainland China. The mainland People's Republic of China does not recognise the legitimacy of the Republic of China, and claims sovereignty over Taiwan. The same copyright rules apply to mainland China and Taiwan up to 1949.

China has been a member of the Berne Convention since 15 October 1992, the Universal Copyright Convention since 30 October 1992, the World Trade Organization since 11 December 2001 and the WIPO Copyright Treaty since 9 June 2007. As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China (as amended up to the Decision of February 26, 2010, by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Amending the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China) as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of China. WIPO holds an English-language translation of the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database. Wikisource has a Chinese version and an English translation. The 2010 law is retroactive.

• The rights of copyright owners, publishers, performers, producers of sound recordings and video recordings, radio stations and television stations as provided in this Law, of which the term of protection specified in this Law has not yet expired on the date of this Law's entry into force, shall be protected in accordance with this Law.^{[2010 Art.60]}

The same provision was also given in Article 55 of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China dated 1990.

General

According to the 2010 Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China,

• A work created by a citizen when fulfilling the tasks assigned to him by a legal entity or another organization shall be deemed to be a service work. Unless otherwise provided in Paragraph 2 of this Article, the copyright of such a work shall be enjoyed by the author, but the legal entity or organization shall have a priority right to exploit the work within the scope of its professional activities....^{[2010 Art.16]}
• The rights of authorship, alteration and integrity of an author shall be unlimited in time.^{[2010 Art.20]}
• The term of protection for the right of publication ... in respect of a work of a citizen shall be the lifetime of the author and fifty years after his death, and expires on 31 December of the fiftieth year after the death of the author.^{[2010 Art.21]}
• In the case of a work of joint authorship, such term shall expire on 31 December of the fiftieth year after the death of the last surviving author.^{[2010 Art.21]}
• Where the copyright belongs to a legal entity or other organization or in respect of a work created in the course of employment where the legal entity or other organization enjoys the copyright (except the right of authorship), the term shall be fifty years, and expires on 31 December of the fiftieth year after the first publication of such work, provided that any such work that has not been published within fifty years after the completion of its creation shall no longer be protected under this Law.^{[2010 Art.21]}
• The term of protection for a cinematographic work, a work created by virtue of an analogous method of film production or a photographic work shall be fifty years, and expires on 3l December of the fiftieth year after the first publication of such work, provided that any such work that has not been published within fifty years after the completion of its creation shall no longer be protected under this Law.^{[2010 Art.21]}

According to the Implementing Regulations of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China:

• Article 13: In the case of a work of an unknown author, the copyright, except the right of authorship, shall be exercised by the lawful holder of the original copy of the work. Where the author has been identified, the copyright shall be exercised by the author or his heir in title.
• Article 16: The using of copyright enjoyed by the State shall be managed by the State Council copyright administration departments.
• Article 17: In the case of posthumous works, the right of publication may be exercised by the author's heir in title or other behested beneficiary within a period of 50 years, unless the author expressly had stated otherwise. In the absence of an heir in title or other behested beneficiary, the said right shall be exercised by the lawful holder of the original copy of the work.
• Article 18: In the case of a work of an unknown author, the protection term in relation to the rights as mentioned by item 5 to item 17 of first paragraph of Article 10 of the Law shall be 50 years ending on December 31 of the fiftieth year after the first publication of the work. Article 21 of the Law shall be applicable after the author of the work has been identified.

According to the General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China, Article 100, photographs of regular people may not be used for profit (commercially) without their consent.

Not protected

According to the 2010 Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, this Law shall not be applicable to: (l) laws; regulations; resolutions, decisions and orders of State organs; other documents of a legislative, administrative or judicial nature; and their official translations; (2) news on current affairs; and (3) calendars, numerical tables and forms of general use, and formulas.^{[2010 Art.5]}

Copyright tags

See also: Commons:Copyright tags

• {{PD-China}} – for images in the public domain according to the People's Republic of China (mainland) and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
• {{PD-China-film}} – for movies or images from movies published in the China more than 50 years ago according to Mainland China and Taiwan.
• {{PD-Empire of China Government Gazette}} – for the Government Gazette from May January to March 1916 (Hongxian Year 1) by the Empire of China.
• {{PD-Manchukuo-stamps}} – for images of Manchukuo stamps that are now in the public domain in China.

People's Republic of China

• {{PD-PRC-exempt}} – for images in the public domain according to the People's Republic of China for free of copyright.
• {{PD-PRC-GB mandatory standard}} – for images from mandatory Guobiao standards with legal nature.
  • {{PD-PRC-Road Traffic Signs}} – for road traffic signs from mandatory National Standard GB 5768.
  • {{PD-PRC-Road Traffic Markings}} – for road traffic markings from mandatory National Standard GB 5768.

Republic of China

Works with these tags may be published before or after 1949 within the jurisdiction of the Republic of China:

• {{PD-ROC-exempt}} – for images in the public domain according to the Republic of China for free of copyright
• {{PD-ROC-official}} – for the attachments of the laws of the Republic of China from the website of the Legislative Yuan law system
• {{PD-ROC-Presidential Office Gazette}} – for the Presidential Office Gazette from 20 May 1948 to present by the Presidential Office of the Republic of China [1]

Older (1912–1949) works published within the jurisdiction of the Republic of China

• {{PD-ROC-Provisional Government Gazette}} – for the Provisional Government Gazette from 29 January to 5 April 1912 by the Nanking Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912) [2]
• {{PD-ROC-Provisional Gazette}} – for the Provisional Gazette from 13 February to 26 April 1912 by the Peking Republican Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912–1913)
• {{PD-ROC-Government Gazette}} – for the Government Gazette from May 1912 to June 1928 by the Beiyang Government of the Republic of China [3]
• {{PD-ROC-Military Government Gazette}} – for the Military Government Gazette from 17 September 1917 to 14 May 1918 by the Southern Government of the Republic of China [4]
• {{PD-ROC-Generalissimo Government Gazette}} – for the Generalissimo Government Gazette from 30 January 1922 to 20 May 1925 by the Southern Generalissimo Government of the Republic of China [5]
• {{PD-ROC-National Government Gazette}} – for the National Government Gazette from July 1925 to 19 May 1948 by the National Government of the Republic of China [6]

Currency

Shortcut
COM:CUR China

See also: Commons:Currency

 Not OK. The use of Renminbi designs is subject to approval. According to the Measures for the Administration of the Use of Renminbi Designs (人民币图样使用管理办法):

• Article 4 The use of Renminbi designs shall be put under the examination and approval system of one approval for one matter. The People's Bank of China shall be the examination and approval organ for the use of Renminbi designs, and all the branches of the People's Bank of China shall be the organs that accept applications for the use of Renminbi designs.

Freedom of panorama

Shortcut
COM:FOP China

See also: Commons:Freedom of panorama

OK {{FoP-China}} The reproduction of artistic, architectural, or applied artwork, is covered under the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, which allows reproduction of works in a public place if the author and the name of the original work is attributed.

• Article 22: In the following cases, a work may be exploited without the permission from, and without payment of remuneration to, the copyright owner, provided that the name of the author and the title of the work are mentioned and the other rights enjoyed by the copyright owner by virtue of this Law are not infringed upon:
  (1) use of a published work for the purposes of the user's own private study, research or self-entertainment;
  (2) appropriate quotation from a published work in one's own work for the purposes of introduction of, or comment on, a work, or demonstration of a point;
  (8) reproduction of a work in its collections by a library, archive, memorial hall, museum, art gallery or similar institution, for the purpose of the display or preservation of a copy of the work;
  (10) copying, drawing, photographing, or video recording of an artistic work located or on display in an outdoor public place;...
  The provisions in the preceding paragraph shall be applicable to the limitations on the rights of publishers, performers, producers of sound recordings and video recordings, radio stations and television stations.

The "Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China" (2001) Article 22, clause 10 states that:

[A] work may be exploited without the permission from, and without payment of remuneration to, the copyright owner, provided that the name of the author and the title of the work are mentioned and the other rights enjoyed by the copyright owner by virtue of this Law are not infringed upon...

in the case of:

copying, drawing, photographing, or video recording of an artistic work located or on display in an outdoor public place

Regulations and court decisions regarding to freedom of panorama:

• Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Civil Disputes over Copyright, Article 18: Artistic works in outdoor public places stipulated in Article 22, Item 10 of the Copyright Law refer to sculptures, paintings, calligraphy and other works of art that are set up or displayed in outdoor public places.
  Copying, painting, photographing, and video recording of the artistic works specified in the preceding paragraph may be used again in a reasonable manner and scope without causing any infringement.
• Reply on the "Report on the Request for Infringement of Copyright Disputes between Shandong Tianyi Advertising Co., Ltd. and Qingdao Hisense Communications Co., Ltd." of the Shandong Provincial Higher People's Court, the Supreme People's Court: ... Here, for 'reasonable approach and scope', the 'approach and scope' for profit purposes should be included. This is the original intention of formulating the Judicial Interpretation. This provision of judicial interpretation is in conformity with the basic spirit of fair use as stipulated by the Berne Convention, and it is also in line with the legislation of most countries in the world."
• Wang Juxian vs. Shaoxing Water Conservancy Bureau on Other Copyright Ownership Infringement Dispute Trial Supervision, The Supreme People's Court: As mentioned above, China's Copyright Law exempts the public from the obligation to attribute the author's name and the name of the work while exempting the author from the obligation to authorize and pay for the copying of the sculpture in the outdoor public place. Under normal circumstances, the public can only rely on the annotation of the outdoor art work itself to confirm the author's name and the name of the work without any obligation to verify.

The following examples are OK:

• Photos of the Tian Tan Buddha sculpture. See the court ruling of a civil law case, in which the court ruled that commercial use of a photo of the Tian Tan Buddha by a telecommunications operator on their IP phone cards is permissible.
• Photos of the May Wind sculpture. Shandong Province Higher People's Court ruled in a civil case that the usage of an image of this sculpture as a wallpaper in cellphones by a cellphone manufacturer is permissible. China's Supreme Court later on endorsed this ruling.

Threshold of originality

Shortcut
COM:TOO China

See also: Commons:Threshold of originality

The following example is OK:

• "Matchstick man" (image) with a black sphere as a head, black lines as torso, limbs and feet is not copyrightable for lacking originality, ruled Beijing Municipal High People's Court (source).

• 

  A stick figure similar to this image, where the head is represented by a circle and other parts represented by straight lines, is not copyrightable.

The following examples are  Not OK:

• Calligraphy works, such as:
  • the work "道" on this photo (archived from original) (see the article by Beijing Youth Daily (archived from original), and the follow-up report (archived from original).
  • the character "勁" (archived from the original), with rulings made by Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court, and Beijing Municipal High People's Court
  • calligraphy for "澳門豆撈" (image), ruled by Henan Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court (source).

are copyrighted (Copyright Law of the PR China: "Article 2 Works of Chinese citizens, legal entities or other organizations, whether published or not, shall enjoy copyright in accordance with this Law." ; "Article 3 'Works' mentioned in this Law shall include [...] in the following forms: (4) works of fine art and architecture" ; Regulations for the Implementation: "Article 4 (8) 'works of fine arts' means [...] such as paintings, works of calligraphy and sculptures;")

• "LY" company logo (archived from the original), although arguably relatively simple, has been ruled copyrightable by Trademark Appeal Board of the State Administration of Industry & Commerce, Beijing Intellectual Property Court, and Beijing Municipal High People's Court.
• Typefaces of characters "笑", "喜", and "城市宝贝" in these two logos are copyrightable, ruled Nanjing Intermediate People's Court. However the character "巴" in the same logo was decided not copyrightable for lacking originality in the same decision. (source, court decision full text: [7][8])
• Gang Heng logo: China's Supreme People's Court ruled this logo to be protected by copyright (news article, archived from original).

See also

• China
• Category:Chinese FOP cases
• Category:License tags of China
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Hong Kong
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Macao
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Manchukuo
• Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Taiwan

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely.