In order to keep modernizing its IP laws, the Office of
Legislative Affairs of the State Council of the People's
Republic of China has recently released a draft amendment to the
current Copyright Law. This follows the enactment of the new Patent
Law at the end of 2009 and the entry into force of the new
Trademark Law on May 1, 2014.
The Draft of the renewed Copyright Law proposes amendments to
the subject matter of copyright, to the criteria of ownership of
rights, to the protection period of rights and to the
implementation and enforcement of copyright. Being these changes
likely to affect foreign IP holders in China, they are here briefly
discussed.
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Subject Matter
The Draft proposes to widen the subject matter of copyright. It
does so, first, by renaming "the cinematographic works and
works created by a process analogous to cinematography" as
"audiovisual works", a far wider and more comprehensive
term; adding "works of applied art", to which
