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"Following the Panel Report in the China - Intellectual Property Rights case (DS 362), the Chinese Copyright Law has been slightly revised. Article 4, which was deemed to deny copyright to certain classes of rights holders in violation of China's obligations under TRIPs and the Berne Convention, has been updated from:

to:

This update removes the provision containing copyright denial, while the added sentence makes clear that nonetheless, the censorship process remains unaffected."

Creemers writes:

"At the same time, a new Article 26 was added to the Law, stipulating:

The use of copyright as collateral had already been regulated since 1996 through administrative registration, but this addition strengthens the legal position of such transactions."

Thank you Rogier.

IP Dragon: About article 4 Copyright Law, it says on the one hand that works are protected by copyright even if they are censored, but that censored works may not be disseminated. The great advantage for copyright holders is that they can file a lawsuit against copyright infringers so in principle they can obtain an injunction and/or damages. Before, holders of censored works were totally dependent on the efficacy of the Public Security Bureau in stopping any dissemination of their works.

The revisions will be effective as of April 1, 2010. This is for real, and has probably nothing to do with April Fool's Day, which is celebrated in China too.

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