Draft Amendments to the Copyright Law of the PRC

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

作者:矫鸿彬  金杜律师事务所知识产权

2012年3月31日,中华人民共和国国家版权局公开《中华人民共和国著作权法》(“《著作权法》”)(修改草案)文本和关于草案的简要说明[i],向社会公开征求意见,此次修订被视为是中国对《著作权法》的首次主动修改。

现行的《著作权法》是1990年9月7日由第七届全国人大常委会审议通过并于1991年6月1日起施行,曾于2001年和2010年进行过两次修订,均与世界贸易组织有关。2001年进行的第一次修订是为了满足中国加入世界贸易组织的需要,对《著作权法》与世界贸易组织《与贸易有关的知识产权协议》不一致的地方进行了修改或补充;2010年进行的第二次修订是为了执行世界贸易组织关于中美知识产权争端案的裁决,对著作权法进行的只涉及两个条文的小修改。 Continue Reading 《中华人民共和国著作权法》第三次修改草案的主要争议问题