On August 20, 2026, the Supreme People's Court issued the "Decision on Amending the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Civil Dispute Cases Involving Copyright" (Judicial Interpretation No. 18 of 2026, hereinafter referred to as the "Decision"). The Decision was adopted at the 1976th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on May 25, 2026, and will come into effect on September 1, 2026.

In order to correctly apply the 2020 amendment to the "Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Copyright Law"), to fully exert the judicial function of the People's Courts in intellectual property cases, to strengthen the protection of copyright and related rights and interests, and to reasonably balance the protection of rights and social public interests, the Supreme People's Court, based on in-depth research, extensive solicitation of opinions and repeated deliberations, revised the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Civil Dispute Cases Involving Copyright" (Judicial Interpretation No. 31 of 2002, revised in 2020, hereinafter referred to as the "Original Judicial Interpretation").

First, further clarify the criteria for determining "public disclosure". Remove the limitation in Article 9 of the original judicial interpretation that "the copyright owner discloses the work by themselves or with the permission of the copyright owner", and explicitly define "public disclosure" as the disclosure of the work to an unspecified audience, but not requiring public awareness as a necessary condition. The main consideration is that the current intellectual property theory community and judicial practice both recognize that the disclosure of a work due to another person's infringement also falls under the category of "public disclosure".

Second, further refine the application rules for fair use. Amend the "outdoor public places' artworks" stipulated in Article 18 of the original judicial interpretation to "artworks in public places", which is consistent with the provisions of the 2020 revised Copyright Law, Article 24, Paragraph 10. At the same time, add a proviso to clearly state that for the copying, painting, photography, and video recording of artworks in public places, the results can be legally reused within a reasonable manner and scope, but without the permission of the copyright owner, they shall not be set up, displayed, or publicly disseminated in the same way. The main consideration for making these amendments is that the term "outdoor public places" in the original Article 24, Paragraph 1 has been deleted, and the scope of "public places" has expanded, covering public and commercial art galleries, exhibition halls, etc., thus it is necessary to limit the "reasonable use methods and scope", in order to ensure the space for reasonable use while avoiding discouraging the enthusiasm of copyright owners to exhibit their works.

Third, further clarify the application scope of the statutory license for newspaper and periodical reprinting. Clearly define the scope of "newspapers and periodicals" in the original judicial interpretation as "paper newspapers and periodicals approved for publication by the relevant authorities, as well as their digital versions that are consistent with the content and layout format", to adapt to the needs of network and digital technology development. At the same time, add a new paragraph to clearly state that the mutual reprinting between newspapers and periodicals and internet information service providers, as well as the mutual reprinting among internet information service providers, of published works, do not apply to the provisions of the previous paragraph, and shall obtain the permission of the copyright owner and pay remuneration. The main consideration for making these amendments is that the term "outdoor public places" in the original Article 17 has been removed, and the scope of "public places" has expanded, covering public and commercial art galleries, exhibition halls, etc., thus it is necessary to limit the "reasonable use methods and scope", in order to ensure the space for reasonable use while avoiding discouraging the enthusiasm of copyright owners to exhibit their works.

In addition, based on the Civil Code, the 2020 revised Copyright Law, and relevant judicial interpretations, some provisions, text expressions, and item numbers have been made adaptive modifications.

All courts at all levels should thoroughly implement the decisions of the Central Committee on strengthening intellectual property protection, strictly handle copyright civil disputes cases in accordance with the law, regulate copyright infringement behaviors in accordance with the law, strive to create and maintain a legal environment that encourages innovation and promotes the development and prosperity of socialist culture and science, and promote high-quality economic development.

The "Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Amending the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Civil Disputes over Copyright" was adopted at the 1976th meeting of the Supreme People's Court's Judicial Committee on May 25, 2026, and is hereby promulgated and shall come into effect on September 1, 2026.

The Supreme People's Court

August 19, 2026

FASE [2026] No. 18

Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Amending the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Civil Disputes over Copyright

(Adopted at the 1976th meeting of the Supreme People's Court's Judicial Committee on May 25, 2026, and coming into effect on September 1, 2026)


According to the provisions of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, and in light of the practice of copyright litigation, the following amendments are made to the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Civil Dispute Cases Involving Copyright":

1. The first item of the first paragraph is revised as: "Cases involving the ownership of copyright and related rights, infringement, and contract disputes, among which infringement disputes include cases for confirming that there is no infringement of copyright and related rights." 。

Change the second item to: "Cases applying for pre-litigation measures to stop acts infringing upon copyright and related rights, as well as cases applying for pre-litigation property preservation and pre-litigation evidence preservation;" 。

Add an item as the third one: "Cases involving damage liability disputes arising from applications for pre-litigation or in-litigation cessation of acts infringing upon copyright and related rights." 。

Change the third item to: "(4) Other disputes related to copyright and rights related to copyright." 

Delete items 2, 7.2 and 19 of the second section.

Change the third item to the second item, and modify "Copyright administrative department" to "Copyright authority" in it.

Change item 7 to item 6, and add "or appraisal" after "authentication" in the first paragraph.

Change item 9 to item 8, delete "by the copyright owner's own or with the permission of the copyright owner", and change "item (1) of Article 10" to "the first item of Article 10".

Change item 16 to item 14, delete "simple factual news through mass media dissemination falls under the category of current affairs news as stipulated in Article 5, item (2) of the Copyright Law." and change "current affairs news" to "simple factual news".

Add a new paragraph as the second one: "For newspapers, periodicals and digital versions of those approved for publication by the authority, as well as those with consistent content and layout with their editions, when they are re-used by other newspapers, periodicals or internet information service providers, or when they are re-used by other internet information service providers, the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply. Such re-use shall be subject to the permission of the copyright owner and payment of remuneration."

Change item 18 to item 16, delete "outdoors" in the first paragraph, and change "item (10) of Article 22" to "the first item of Article 24".

Change the second paragraph to: "For the person who copies, paints, takes photos or records the works stipulated in the preceding paragraph, their achievements can be used again in a reasonable way and within a reasonable scope, but without the permission of the copyright owner, such use shall not be made in the same way as setting up, displaying or publicly disseminating."

Change the first and second paragraphs of item 20 to: "The person who infringes upon the copyright and the internet information service provider who reproduces the published works shall bear civil liability. The liability for compensation for losses shall be replaced by civil liability."

Change item 21 to item 19, delete "item (1) of Article 48" and change "item (1) of Article 24" to "the first item of Article 24".

Change item 23 to item 21, delete "the illegal gains of the infringer" in the first paragraph and add "the reasonable rights usage fee is difficult to calculate" after "the infringer's illegal gains".

Delete item 2 from the second paragraph and add "and the degree of fault of the defendant" after "the type of work".

Change item 25 to item 23, delete "the inability to determine" in the first paragraph and add "the reasonable usage fee is difficult to calculate" after "the infringer's illegal gains".

Delete item 2 from the second paragraph and add "and the degree of fault of the defendant" after "the type of work". Change item 27 to item 25, modify "the statute of limitations" to "the statute of limitations period".

Change the order of the content expression in item 29 to be second, delete "except as otherwise provided in this interpretation", and modify "civil act" to "legal fact".

Add "but except as otherwise provided by law and judicial interpretations" after "involving legal facts before the amendment of the Copyright Law" and "involving legal facts before the amendment of the Copyright Law that continue after the amendment" after "involving legal facts before the amendment of the Copyright Law".

Adjust the order of the content expression in "involving legal facts before the amendment of the Copyright Law, the provisions of the Copyright Law before the amendment shall apply" and "involving legal facts before the amendment of the Copyright Law that continue after the amendment, the provisions of the Copyright Law after the amendment shall apply" to be "involving legal facts before the amendment of the Copyright Law, the provisions of the Copyright Law before the amendment shall apply" and "involving legal facts before the amendment of the Copyright Law that continue after the amendment, the provisions of the Copyright Law after the amendment shall apply".

Adjust the serial numbers of the relevant provisions of the Copyright Law according to the revised Copyright Law.

Adjust the sequence of the provisions.

This decision shall come into effect on September 1, 2026.



According to this decision, the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Civil Dispute Cases Involving Copyright" has been revised accordingly and is re-published.

Supreme People's Court

Interpretation of the Law on the Application of Law in Civil Dispute Cases Involving Copyright

(Adopted at the 1246th Meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on October 12, 2002; First revised in accordance with the "Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Amending Eight Intellectual Property-related Judicial Interpretations (Including the Interpretation on the Application of Law in Civil Dispute Cases Involving Infringement of Patent Rights) Passed at the 1823rd Meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on December 23, 2020; Second revised in accordance with the "Decision of the Supreme People's Court on Amending the Interpretation on the Application of Law in Civil Dispute Cases Involving Copyright Passed at the 1976th Meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on May 25, 2026", and this revision shall come into effect on September 1, 2026)

In order to properly hear civil dispute cases involving copyright, in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, the following interpretations on issues concerning the application of law are made:

Article 1: The People's Courts shall accept the following civil dispute cases involving copyright:

(1) Cases involving disputes over the ownership, infringement, and contractual relationships of copyright and related rights, among which infringement disputes include cases of confirming that no infringement of copyright and related rights has occurred;

(2) Cases applying for pre-litigation measures to stop acts infringing upon copyright and related rights, and cases applying for pre-litigation property preservation and pre-litigation evidence preservation;

(3) Cases of damage liability arising from applications for pre-litigation or in-litigation measures to stop acts infringing upon copyright and related rights;

(4) Other civil dispute cases involving copyright and related rights.

Article 2: When a party files a lawsuit with the court to hold the infringer liable for civil damages for an infringement of copyright, the court shall accept the case.

When the court hears a civil dispute case involving infringement of copyright that has been handled by the copyright authority, it shall conduct a comprehensive review of the facts of the case.

Article 3: Civil lawsuits for infringement of copyright shall be under the jurisdiction of the courts of the place where the infringement act was committed, the place where the infringing copies are stored, the place where they were seized or detained, or the place where the defendant resides.

The place where the infringing copies are stored refers to the location where a large quantity or regular storage of infringing copies is carried out; the place of seizure or detention refers to the location where the infringing copies are legally seized or detained by the customs, copyright authorities, etc.

Article 4: In a joint lawsuit involving multiple defendants for different acts of infringement, the plaintiff may choose to file a lawsuit with the court of the place where the infringement act was committed by one of the defendants; a lawsuit filed only against one defendant shall have the court of the place where the infringement act was committed by that defendant having jurisdiction.

Article 5: A copyright collective management organization that has been legally established and based on the written authorization of the copyright owner files a lawsuit in its own name, the court shall accept the case.

Article 6: The original manuscripts, copies, legal publications, copyright registration certificates, certificates issued by certification or appraisal institutions, contracts for obtaining rights, etc. provided by the parties can be used as evidence.

Article 7: The physical objects, invoices, etc. obtained by the parties through self-purchase or purchase through others' purchase in the form of ordering or on-site transactions can be used as evidence.

If a notary officer, without indicating their identity to the party suspected of infringement, truthfully issues a certificate of evidence based on the manner prescribed in the preceding paragraph and the process of obtaining evidence by the other party, such certificate shall be used as evidence, except where there is contrary evidence.

Article 8: "Publicly disclosed" as stipulated in Article 10, first item of the copyright law, means to make a work available to a non-specific group of people, but does not require that the work be known to the public.

Article 9: Where the third party is the copyright owner and is a natural person, the protection period of the work shall be governed by the provisions of Article 23, first item of the copyright law; where the third party is a legal person or an unincorporated organization, the protection period shall be governed by the provisions of Article 23, second item of the copyright law.

Article 10: In cases of disputes over the order of authorship, the courts shall handle them in accordance with the following principles: if there is an agreement, the order of authorship shall be determined according to the agreement; if there is no agreement, the order of authorship shall be determined based on the labor expended in creating the work, the arrangement of the work, the number of strokes of the author's surname, etc.

Article 11: Except for the circumstances stipulated in Article 11, third item of the copyright law, where a report or speech is created by others, reviewed and finalized by the person himself/herself and published under his/her own name, the copyright belongs to the person who created the report or speech. The copyright owner may pay the person who created the report or speech an appropriate remuneration.

Article 12: Where a self-contained work based on the experiences of a specific person is completed through the agreement of the parties and the copyright owner has an agreement on the ownership of the copyright, the agreement shall prevail; if there is no agreement, the copyright belongs to the specific person, and if the person who created or organized the work has contributed labor to the completion of the work, the copyright owner may pay an appropriate remuneration to them.

Article 13: Where works created by different authors on the same subject matter are independently completed and have creativity, it shall be determined that each author enjoys independent copyright.

Article 14: When disseminating and reporting simple factual news about others' editing and selection, the source shall be indicated.



Article 15: In cases where the copyright of a commissioned work belongs to the commissioned party as stipulated in Article 19 of the Copyright Law, the commissioner shall have the right to use the work within the agreed scope of use; if no scope of use is agreed upon by both parties, the commissioner may use the work free of charge within the specific purpose of the commissioned creation.

Article 16: The artistic works in public places as stipulated in Article 24, Paragraph 1, Item 10 of the Copyright Law refer to sculptures, paintings, calligraphy, and other artistic works set up or displayed in public places for social activities.

For those who copy, paint, take photos, or record the artworks as stipulated in the preceding paragraph, they may legally use their results within a reasonable manner and scope, but they shall not set up, display, or publicly disseminate them in the same way without the permission of the copyright owner.

Article 17: The reproduction and distribution of published works as stipulated in Article 35, Paragraph 2 refers to the act of publishing other newspapers or periodicals that have been published through the approval of the newspaper or periodical administrative department, as well as the digital version that is consistent with the content and layout format of the published works.

If the reproduction and distribution do not indicate the author of the reproduced work and the source of the initial publication of the newspaper or periodical, they shall bear civil liability such as eliminating the impact and making an apology.

When newspapers, periodicals, and internet information service providers mutually reproduce or when internet information service providers mutually reproduce published works that have been published, the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply. They shall obtain the permission of the copyright owner and pay remuneration.

The publisher shall bear the burden of proof that it has fulfilled the reasonable attention obligation.

Article 18: If a publication infringes upon the copyright of others, the publisher shall bear civil liability based on its fault, the degree of infringement, and the damage consequences.

If the publisher fails to fulfill the reasonable attention obligation regarding its authorization of the publication, the source of the manuscripts, the authorship, and the content of the published works, it shall bear civil liability in accordance with the provisions of Article 52 of the Copyright Law.

The publisher shall bear the burden of proof that it has fulfilled the reasonable attention obligation.

Article 19: If the user of computer software uses the computer software without permission or beyond the permitted scope for commercial purposes, they shall bear civil liability in accordance with Article 53, Paragraph 1 of the Copyright Law and Article 24, Paragraph 1, Item 1 of the Regulations on the Protection of Computer Software.

Article 20: If the copyright transfer contract is not in written form, the people's court shall review whether the contract is established based on the provisions of Article 490 of the Civil Code.

Article 21: If the publisher loses or damages the works delivered by the copyright owner for publication, causing the publication contract to be unable to be fulfilled, the copyright owner has the right to require the publisher to bear corresponding civil liability in accordance with the provisions of Article 186, Article 238 of the Civil Code, Article 1184 of the General Principles of the Civil Law, etc.

Article 22: The actual losses of the right holder can be calculated based on the reduction in the number of copies sold or the sales volume of the infringing copies multiplied by the profit per unit of the right holder's published copies.

If the reduction in the number of copies sold is difficult to determine, it shall be determined based on the market sales volume of the infringing copies.

Article 23: If the actual losses of the right holder or the illegal gains of the infringer, or the reasonable rights usage fees are difficult to calculate, the people's court shall, upon the request of the parties or upon its own initiative, apply the provisions of Article 54, Paragraph 2 of the Copyright Law to determine the amount of compensation.

When determining the amount of compensation, the people's court shall consider the type of work, the degree of fault of the infringer, the nature and consequences of the infringement, and other circumstances comprehensively.

If the parties have reached an agreement on the amount of compensation based on this provision, it shall be permitted.

Article 24: The reasonable expenses paid by the copyright owner for stopping the infringement, including the reasonable expenses for the right holder or the entrusted agent to investigate and obtain evidence of the infringement, shall be included.



The People's Court, based on the litigation requests of the parties and the specific circumstances of the case, may include the calculation of legal fees for lawyers in the compensation range in accordance with the regulations of relevant state departments.

Article 25: The statute of limitations for litigation regarding infringement of copyright is three years, calculated from the date when the copyright owner knows or should know that their rights have been infringed and the obligor has committed the infringement.

If the copyright owner files a lawsuit more than three years later, and the infringement is still ongoing at the time of the lawsuit, within the protection period of the copyright, the People's Court shall rule that the defendant cease the infringement; the amount of damages for infringement shall be calculated backward three years from the date when the copyright owner filed the lawsuit.

Article 26: When the People's Court takes preservation measures, it shall handle the matter in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Law and the "Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of Law in Reviewing Cases of Intellectual Property Disputes for the Enforcement of Measures Regarding the Preservation of Property".

Article 27: In civil disputes over copyright cases accepted by the People's Court, if the legal facts occurred after the amendment of the Copyright Law are involved, the provisions of the amended Copyright Law shall apply; if the legal facts occurred before the amendment of the Copyright Law are involved, the provisions of the original Copyright Law shall apply, except where otherwise stipulated by laws or judicial interpretations; if the legal facts occurred before the amendment of the Copyright Law but continued until after the amendment of the Copyright Law are involved, the provisions of the amended Copyright Law shall apply, except where otherwise stipulated by laws or judicial interpretations.

Article 28: If previous relevant provisions are inconsistent with this interpretation, this interpretation shall prevail.

Source: Supreme People's Court