1 Regulations Governing Application for Approval of License of 
Works of Unknown Owner of Copyrights and Royalties for Use 
Thereof  
1. Adopted and issued on September 24, 2010, per Order No. Jing-Zhi-Zi-09904605970 
of the Ministry of Economic Affairs  
2. Article 3 amended and issued on March 11, 2021, per Order No. Jing -Zhi-Zi-
11004601050 of the Ministry of Economic Affairs  
 
Article 1  
These Regulations are adopted pursuant to Article 24, Paragrap h 5 of the Law for the 
Development of the Cultural and Creative Industries (hereinafter "the Act").  
 
Article 2  
Pursuant to Article 24, Paragraph 1 of the Act, the following documents shall be 
submitted when applying for a license:  
1. An application form.  
2. A sample of the work the applicant wishes to exploit.  
When special circumstances such as the size, fragility, or cost of the sample make it 
either inconvenient or impossible to submit a sample of the work as required under 
subparagraph 2 of the preceding  paragraph, the applicant may state the reasons and 
enclose a detailed written description of the work, photographs of the work taken from 
four, five, or six perspectives, or other substitutes for the sample.  
 
Article 3  
The application form of Paragraph 1, subparagraph 1 of the preceding article shall 
contain the following information, and shall be signed or sealed by the applicant or the 
applicant's agent:  
1. The applicant's name or entity name, date of birth or date of establishment, and 
domicile or residence; in the case where the applicant is a juristic person, the name of the 
juristic person's representative.  
2. When the application is filed by an agent,  the agent's name or entity name and domicile 
or residence; in the case where the agent is a juristic person, the name of the juristic 
person's representative.  
3. The type, content, and name of the work to be exploited, and the name or entity name 
of the e conomic rights holder and the author of the work; the name of the work, and the  2 name or entity name of the economic rights holder and the author need not be provided if 
unknown.  
4. A statement of the cultural or creative product to be produced through expl oitation of 
the work.  
5. A statement of the method of calculating royalties.  
6. A statement indicating all efforts have been exhausted to locate or contact the 
economic rights holder.  
7. A statement of any prior public release of the work to be exploited.  
The statement under subparagraph 5 of the preceding paragraph shall include each of the 
following:  
1. The amount of royalties that have been paid for the exploitation of works of a similar 
type in the market.  
2. The intended scope of exploitation of the wo rk. 
3. The anticipated valuable consideration or other means of yields by which the exploiter 
expects to benefit from the transactions involving the exploiter's cultural or creative 
product.  
4. The number of times, and the period for which, the work is to be exploited.  
5. The proportion of the work to be exploited that the exploiter intends to use in the 
cultural or creative product to be produced.  
6. Any other explanatory statements as may be required by the competent copyright 
authority.  
The statement und er subparagraph 6 of Paragraph 1 shall at least include each of the 
following:  
1. The applicant has inquired with a related copyright organization(s) or agency(ies) 
regarding the name or entity name, domicile or residence, and other related information 
of the economic rights holder of the work to be exploited, and the organization(s) or 
agency(ies) concerned has responded that the desired information cannot be ascertained, 
or given no response  after 30 days from the date on which the documents requesting t he 
information were sent.  
2. The applicant has placed an announcement in a newspaper or on the competent 
copyright authority’s website, or has used other appropriate methods to search publicly 
for the economic rights holder or related information, and rece ived no response after 10 
days from the date on which the announcement was placed or the public search 
conducted.  
The announcement or other form of public search referred to in subparagraph 2 of the  3 preceding paragraph shall contain each of the following:  
1. A statement of the intention to search publicly for the economic rights holder or related 
information, and the purpose in doing so.  
2. The applicant's name or entity name, and contact information; in the case where the 
applicant is a juristic person, th e name of the juristic person's representative.  
3. The type, content, and name of the work being searched for, and the name or entity 
name of the economic rights holder and the author of the work; the name of the work, and 
the name or entity name of the ec onomic rights holder and the author need not be 
provided if unknown.  
 
Article 4  
Under any of the following circumstances, the competent copyright authority shall notify 
the applicant to make a supplementation or correction within a specific deadline:  
1. Fees have not been paid in accordance with regulations.  
2. The application form has not been signed  or sealed by the applicant or the applicant's 
agent.  
3. The information required in the application has not been provided or is incomplete.  
4. The information provided in the application does not conform with the attached 
documents or the sample of the work provided.  
5. Other matters that require supplementation or correction.  
 
Article 5  
Under either of the following circumstances, the competent copyright authority shall 
reject the application with a written explanation of the reasons:  
1. The subject of the application does not comply with Article 24 of the Law for the 
Development of the Cultural and Creative Industries.  
2. The competent copyright authority has set a specific deadline for supplementation or 
correction in accordance with the preceding arti cle, and the applicant has failed to meet 
the deadline, or has met the deadline but the application nevertheless remains incomplete.  
 
Article 6  
When the competent copyright authority approves the licensing of the work, it shall at the 
same time approve the  royalty for its use. It shall notify the applicant in writing and 
publicly announce the information on its website.  
The applicant may not exploit the work for which it has received licensing unless it has  4 deposited royalties for its use in the amount appr oved pursuant to the preceding 
paragraph.  
 
Article 7    
When the competent copyright authority handles an application for licensing pursuant to 
these Regulations, it shall still perform the necessary verification procedures.  
 
Article 8     
Applications for  licensing made pursuant to these Regulations shall be submitted using 
the documents and forms designated by the competent copyright authority.  
An applicant that submits any document in a foreign language shall also attach a Chinese 
translation or a transl ation of the relevant portions.  
 
Article 9  
These Regulations shall come into force from the date of their issuance.