Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China
Author:sipoIssuing Date:2008-01-24 13:32:01Source:sipo
Section 3 Term of Protection for Rights
Article 20 The rights of authorship, alteration and integrity of an author shall be unlimited in time.
Article 21 The term of protection for the right of publication and the rights referred to in Article l0, paragraphs (5) to (17), of this Law 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. 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.
The term of protection for the right of publication and the rights provided for in Article 10, paragraphs (5) to (17), of this Law in respect of a work 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), 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 t1tty years after the completion of its creation shall no longer be protected under this Law.
The term of protection for the right of publication or protection for the right of publication or the rights referred to in Article l0, paragraphs (5) to (17), of this Law in respect of 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.
Section 4 Limitations on Rights
Article 22 In the following cases, a work may be exploited without permission from, and without payment of remuneration to, the copyright owner, provided that the name of the author and the title of the work shall be mentioned and the other rights enjoyed by the copyright owner by virtue of this Law shall not be prejudiced:
(l) 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 to, or comments on, a work, or demonstration of a point;
(3) reuse or citation, for any unavoidable reason, of a published work in newspapers, periodicals, at radio stations, television stations or any other media for the purpose of reporting current events;
(4) reprinting by newspapers or periodicals, or rebroadcasting by radio stations, television stations, or any other media, of articles on current issues relating to politics, economics or religion published by other newspapers, periodicals, or broadcast by other radio stations, television stations or any other media except where the author has declared that the reprinting and rebroadcasting is not permitted;
(5) publication in newspapers or periodicals, or broadcasting by radio stations, television stations or any other media, of a speech delivered at a public gathering, except where the author has declared that the publication or broadcasting is not permitted;
(6) translation, or reproduction in a small quantity of copies, of a published work for use by teachers or scientific researchers, in classroom teaching or scientific research, provided that the translation or reproduction shall not be published or distributed;
(7) use of a published work, within proper scope, by a State organ for the purpose of fulfilling its official duties;
(8) reproduction of a work in its collections by a library, archive, memorial hall, museum, art gallery or any similar institution, for the purposes of the display, or preservation of a copy, of the work;
(9) free-of-charge live performance of a published work and said performance neither collects any fees from the members of the public nor pays remuneration to the performers;
(10) copying, drawing, photographing or video recording of an artistic work located or on display in an outdoor public place;
(11) translation of a published work of a Chinese citizen, legal entity or any other organization from the Han language into any minority nationality language for publication and distribution within the country; and
(12) transliteration of a published work into Braille and publication of the work so transliterated.