【Promulgator】 the State Council
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【Promulgation Date】 2001-12-20
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【Status】 Valid
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【Effective Date】 2002-01-01
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Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 These Regulations are hereby formulated in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China with a view to protecting the rights and interests of copyright owners of computer software, regulating the interests generated in the development, dissemination and use of computer software, encouraging the development and circulation of computer software and promoting the development of the software industry and informationisation of the national economy. Article 2 Computer software (hereinafter referred to as software) as mentioned in these Regulations refers to computer programs and their relevant documents.
Article 3 The meanings of the following terms in these Regulations are: Article 4 Software protected under these Regulations must be developed independently by the developers and already fixed on certain tangible objects.
Article 5 In respect of the software he or it has developed, regardless of whether or where the said software has been made public, a Chinese citizen, legal entity or any other organisation shall enjoy the copyright in accordance with these Regulations. Article 6 The protection of software under these Regulations shall not be extended to ideas, handling processes, operating methods or mathematical conceptions used in software development.
Article 7 Software copyright owners may register their software with a software registry organ designated by the Copyright Administration Department under the State Council. The certificates issued by the registry organs are the preliminary regulatory proof of the registration. Chapter II Copyright of Software
Article 8 A software copyright owner shall enjoy the following rights:
Article 9 The copyright of items of software shall be owned by the respective software developers, except that these Regulations provide otherwise for. Article 10 In respect of an item of software developed by two or more natural persons legal entities or other organisations in cooperation, the ownership of the copyright in the software shall be stipulated by the conclusion of a written agreement between the developers who have cooperated in the development of the software. Where there is no written agreement, nor is there explicit stipulation made in the agreement or where the software developed in cooperation may be partitioned and used, the developers may separately enjoy the copyright to the respective parts developed by them, but the exercise of such copyright may not be extended to the copyright of the jointly developed software as a whole. Where the software developed in cooperation cannot be partitioned and used in parts, the copyright shall be owned by the cooperating developers after reaching unanimity through consultation. Where unanimity cannot be reached through consultation, nor is there any justification, none of the parties shall prevent the other party or parties from exercising the rights except the right of assignment, but the proceeds shall be appropriately distributed to all cooperating developers. Article 11 The ownership of the copyright of an item of software developed on commission shall be stipulated by the conclusion of a written agreement between the commissioning party and the commissioned party. Where there is no written agreement, nor is an explicit stipulation made in the agreement, the copyright shall go to the commissioned party. Article 12 The ownership and exercise of the copyright of an item of software developed in fulfilling a task assigned by a governmental department shall be stipulated by a letter of assignment or by a contract. Where no explicit stipulation is made in the letter of assignment or in the contract, the copyright of the software shall go to the legal entity or other organisation accepting the assignment.
Article 13 Where an item of software developed by a natural person during his service the legal entity or other organisation falls into any of the following provisions, the copyright of the software shall be owned by the legal entity or other organisation, and the legal entity or other organisation may reward the natural person who has developed the software:
Article 14 The copyright in software is generated on the date of accomplishment of the development of the software.
Article 15 Where the copyright of an item of software belongs to a natural person and the copyright is still within the term of protection after the death of the natural person, the successor to the software copyright shall succeed to the rights, except the right of authorship, as stipulated in Article 8 of these Regulations in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law of Succession of the People's Republic of China.
Article 16 An owner of legitimate duplicates of an item of software enjoys the following rights: Article 17 Items of software may be used by way of installation, display, transmission or storage, etc. for the purposes of study and research of the concepts and principle underlying the design of the software without the consent of, or remuneration to, the copyright owner of the software. Chapter III Licensing and Assignment of Software Copyright
Article 18 To license another person to exercise software copyright, a licensing contract shall be concluded.
Article 19 To license another person to exclusively exercise software copyright, the interested parties shall conclude a licensing contract in writing. Article 20 Where a software copyright is to be assigned, the interested parties shall conclude a contract in writing. Article 21 Any contract concluded for licensing another person to exclusively exercise software copyright, or for assigning a software copyright, may be registered with a registry organ designated by the Copyright Administrative Department under the State Council. Article 22 Where a Chinese citizen, legal entity or other organisation licenses or assigns his or its software copyright, he or it shall comply with the relevant provisions of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Technology Import and Export Administration. Chapter IV Legal Liabilities
Article 23 Except otherwise provided for in the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China or these Regulations, where any of the following acts of infringement occurs, the infringer shall, according to circumstances, bear such civil liabilities as stopping the infringement, eliminating the ill effects, making an apology and compensating for the damages:
Article 24 Except otherwise provided for in the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, these Regulations or other laws and administrative regulations, where any of the following acts of infringement occurs, the infringer shall, according to circumstances, bear such civil liabilities as stopping the infringement, eliminating the ill effects, making an apology and compensating for the damages; where, meanwhile, the public interests are prejudiced, the Copyright Administrative Department shall order cessation of the infringing act, confiscate unlawful income from the act, confiscate and destroy infringing duplicates, and may impose a fine; if the circumstances are serious, the Copyright Administration Department may also confiscate the materials, tools and equipment mainly used for making the infringing duplicates; if the act violates the criminal law, the infringer shall be prosecuted for his or its criminal liabilities as imposed on the crime of copyright infringement or the crime of selling infringing duplicates under the Criminal Law: Article 25 The amount of damages for an infringement of software copyright shall be fixed in accordance with the provisions of Article 48 of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China. Article 26 A software copyright owner who has evidence to establish that another person is committing or, will commit, an act of infringement of his right, which could cause irreparable injury to his legitimate rights and interests if the act is not stopped immediately may, according to the provision of Article 49 of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, apply to the People's Court for ordering cessation of the related act and for tacking the measures for property preservation before instituting legal proceedings.Article 27 For the purpose of preventing an infringing act and under the circumstance where the evidence may be lost or is difficult to obtain afterwards, the software copyright owner may, according to the provision of Article 50 of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, apply to the People's Court for evidence preservation before instituting legal proceedings. Article 28 The publisher or producer of duplicates of an item of software cannot prove that his publication or production has been authorised, or the distributor or the renter of the reproduction of an item of software who cannot prove that the reproductions he or it has distributed or rented is from a legitimate source, shall bear legal liability. Article 29 Software developed by a software developer is similar to an item of existing software due to limited alternatives of expression available does not constitute an infringement of the existing software copyright. Article 30 The holder of duplicate of an item of software who does no know, nor has any reasonable ground to know, that the item of software is an infringing duplicate shall not be liable for damages. However, he or it shall stop using and destroy the infringing duplicate. If stopping the use of, or destroying, the infringing duplicate causes great losses to the user of the duplicate, the user of the duplicate may go on using it after paying the software copyright owner the appropriate fees.
Article 31 A contractual dispute over software copyright infringement may be settled through mediation. Chapter V Supplementary Provisions Article 32 Acts of infringement which occur before these Regulations enter into force shall be dealt with in accordance with the relevant State regulations in effect at the time said acts of infringement occur. Article 33 These Regulations shall enter into force as of 1 January 2002. The Regulations on Computer Software Protection issued by the State Council on 4 June 1991 is simultaneously abrogated. |
Regulations
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Telephone: (8610)68473908 88518458 88518575 88516136 82609417
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Copyright
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Telephone: (8610)68473908 88518458 88518575 88516136 Facsimile: (8610)68473908转815
Website: www.suthink.com Email: shiyuxincheng@126.com
Telephone: (8610)68473908 88518458 88518575 88516136 Facsimile: (8610)68473908转815
Website: www.suthink.com Email: shiyuxincheng@126.com