The Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Disputes over Copyright was promulgated in 2002 and entered into force on 15 Oct. 2002.

There are 32 articles in total, which aim to provide a unified standard for the application of law in the trial of copyright civil disputes.

The key points are as follows:

1.The court will accept the following cases of copyright civil disputes:

(1) cases concerning the ownership, infringement and contract of copyright and rights related thereto;

(2) the application for stopping the infringement on copyright and rights related thereto before litigation, and the application for pre-litigation property preservation and pre-litigation evidence preservation.

2.Although the copyright administrative department has punished the infringer for copyright infringement, the right holder can still bring a lawsuit with the court to hold the infringer for civil liability.

3.The natural person, the legal person or the organization that signs on the works or product shall be deemed as the holder of the copyright or rights related thereto, unless there is evidence to the contrary.

4.Users of computer software who use computer software for commercial purposes without permission or beyond the scope of license shall bear civil liability.

5.The court shall determine the amount of infringement compensation according to the loss actually incurred by the right holder or the illegal revenue obtained by the infringer.

6.The loss actually incurred by the right holder may be calculated based on the multiplication of the decreased distribution volume of the reproduced products due to the infringement or the sale volume of the infringing reproduced products by the unit profits of the reproduced products of the copyright holder. If it is difficult to determine the decreased distribution volume, the sale volume of the infringing reproduced products shall prevail.