Adopted at the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People＇s Congress on February 26, 2010, "the Decision of the National People's Congress Standing Committee on the Amendments to the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China" will come into effect on April 1, 2010. In the revision, Article 4 is amended and Article 26 is added.

1. The Copyright Law came in to force in 2001. In the first paragraph of Article 4, it provides that "the works prohibited from publication and dissemination, are not protected by this Law". The revised provision hereof formulates that "the copyright holder, when excising his copyright, shall not violate the provisions provided by the Constitution and other laws and regulations, as well as the public interests, and the state shall conduct supervision and management on the publication and dissemination of works in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. "

In April, 2007, the United States resorted to WTO dispute settlement body against China’s publication market access, alleging that the first paragraph of Article 4 hereof violated the Berne Convention and the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights of WTO (referred to as TRIPS Agreement).

2, China then launched "Copyright Law" revision work to show its respect for the international trade rules and the ruling of WTO Dispute Settlement Body. The revision makes the logic of "Copyright Law" more reasonable, which, however, does not mean that China give up its duty to examine the contents of the works. This is because whether to grant copyright protection and whether to allow publication and dissemination of works are different things.

3. Copyright, as trademark and patent, is a private property right, Thus its value in use and value in exchange are equally important. Therefore, Article 26 is added to the revision, which provides "the pledgor and the pledgee shall register with the Copyright Administration Department of the State Council for copyright pledge." Since copyrights in some films, computer software and other works contain enormous economic profits, by allowing copyright to be used as a financing medium, the added Article 26 will encourage the creation enthusiasm of copyright holder and promote the development of cultural and creative industries.