The Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China and the rules for its implementation explicitly protect the copyright and other legitimate rights and interests of the authors of literary, artistic and scientific works. China is among a select group of countries that have explicitly listed computer software as the object of protection by copyright laws. The State Council has, moreover, promulgated the Regulations on the Protection of Computer Software, providing the specifics whereby the laws protecting computer software will be implemented. These regulations, a necessary adjunct to the Copyright Law, came into effect in October 1991. These laws and regulations have been joined by the Technological Contract Law of the People's Republic of China and the Law on Scientific and Technological Progress of the People's Republic of China as formulated by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, as well as a series of administrative regulations concerning intellectual property protection worked out by the State Council, together further optimizing the nation's legal system for the protection of intellectual property rights, in the whole bringing the system close to and in coordination with international levels of protection.
China has a complete legal system for the protection of intellectual property rights.
China's intellectual property law stipulates the legal responsibilities to be borne by anyone who violates the law, including civil liability, criminal liability and exposure to administrative sanctions. China's Patent Law provides that in the case of infringement arising from the exploitation of a patent without authorization of the patentee, the patentee or other affected parties may request the patent administrative authorities to deal with the matter or may directly file suit in a people's court. In investigating and dealing with the matter, the patent administrative authorities are empowered to order the infringer to stop all acts of infringement and compensate for any losses. Whoever counterfeits a patented product or wrongly appropriates a patented technique will be ordered by the patent administrative authorities to cease all acts of counterfeiting, to provide the public with notification of his or her violation, and to pay a fine. In the case of serious violations, the criminal liability of the person directly responsible shall be investigated through application of relevant articles of the Criminal Law, and if found guilty, the person directly responsible shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or a fine.