By Jiao Hongbin King & Wood Mallesons’ Intellectual Property Group
On March 31, 2012, the National Copyright Administration of the PRC (NCAC) released the Draft Amendments to the Copyright Law of thePRC (the “Copyright Law”) (the “Draft Amendments”) and the Brief Explanations on the Draft Amendments (“Brief Explanations”)[i] for soliciting public opinions. Unlike the two previous revisions, the Draft Amendments proposed by China on its own initiative are home-grown.
The prevailing Copyright Law was adopted by the 7th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on September 7, 1990 and became effective on June 1, 1991. Two revisions in 2001 and 2010 were undertaken in light of China’s involvement with the World Trade Organization (WTO). The first revision was made for China’s entry into the WTO, where modifications and complements were made to coordinate the inconsistencies between the Copyright Law and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); two articles were revised in 2010 with an aim to enforce a WTO panel ruling on the dispute over intellectual property rights (“IPRs”) between China and the United States.Continue Reading Key Disputable Issues regarding the Draft Amendments to China Copyright Law