In follow up to the public comment period on the draft amendment to the Copyright law, the draft amendment  was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for the second deliberation on August 8, 2020. Per Xinhau, ” the second deliberation of the draft improved the definition and type of works, deleted the provisions regarding affecting the normal dissemination of works, and added relevant regulations to protect the copyright of audiovisual works.”

The draft amendment to the Copyright Law, which was first submitted for deliberation in April this year, changed the term “movie works and works created in a similar way to filming films” in the current law to “audiovisual works,” and introduced a punitive damages system to significantly increase the cost of infringement.

The first review of the draft stipulates: “The work referred to in this law refers to an intellectual achievement that is original in the fields of literature, art and science and can be reproduced in a tangible form.” The second review of the draft further broadened the definition and type of works to “the work referred to in this law refers to the original intellectual achievements in the fields of literature, art, science, etc. that can be expressed in a certain form. “

The second review of the draft adds a provision that if other audiovisual works “constitute cooperative works or service works, the copyright ownership shall be determined in accordance with the relevant provisions of this law; if they do not constitute cooperative works or service works, The ownership of copyright is agreed upon between the producer and the author. If there is no agreement or the agreement is not clear, the producer enjoys it, but the author has the right to sign and receive remuneration. The producer’s use of the audiovisual works specified in this paragraph exceeds the scope or industry agreed in the contract If it is customary, the author’s permission should be obtained.”

In addition, the second review of the draft focused on the connection with the Civil Code, anti-monopoly law and other laws, and deleted the provision “not to abuse the right to affect the normal dissemination of the work” and related provisions. To balance public and private interests, the second-review draft expands the scope of the statutory reasonable use of related works without the copyright owner’s permission and payment.