Employee-Created Works in China: Build the Copyright Ownership Chain Before Enforcement

By Pan Jianxing · Published 10 October 2026

An overseas brand may receive illustrations, catalogue photographs or product drawings from employees of its Chinese subsidiary and assume that the parent company owns the copyright. Before a complaint or lawsuit, the relevant questions are more specific: who created the identified work, under what arrangement, and how did the proposed claimant acquire the rights it wants to enforce?

This guide concerns the Chinese copyright rules relevant to work created for an organisation's tasks. It is particularly useful when reviewing a China team's creation records. Work created abroad and arrangements involving several jurisdictions need a separate applicable-law assessment; a foreign employment agreement's terminology should not be treated as a complete answer to a Chinese enforcement question.

Identify the work and the actual contributors

Start with a defined work, rather than a folder called brand assets. Record its title or identifier, version, creation period and claimed creator. Preserve drafts, editable source files, project instructions, revision correspondence and the final approved version. If several people contributed, describe what each person actually did.

A payroll record may help establish employment, but it does not by itself identify the author of a particular image. An approval email may show a manager's decision without proving that the manager created the expression. Separate authorship evidence from project management and payment records. Also identify any stock images, fonts or external components that the employee incorporated.

Do not assume every employee work belongs wholly to the employer

Article 18 of the Copyright Law as amended in 2020 addresses works created to complete an organisation's work tasks. Its ordinary rule leaves copyright with the author, while giving the organisation priority use within its business scope. During the two years after completion, the author cannot, without the organisation's consent, license another person to use the work in the same manner as the organisation.

That rule does not automatically make the employer the owner of all exclusive rights. Before relying on a company's entitlement, identify whether the ordinary rule or a statutory exception applies and document the basis. Avoid copying a foreign work-for-hire label into an evidence explanation without examining the Chinese categories.

Examine the exceptions and organisational authorship separately

Article 18 also specifies circumstances in which the author retains attribution while the organisation enjoys the other copyright rights. These include specified works created mainly with its material and technical resources and for which it bears responsibility, certain media employees' works, and works whose copyright belongs to the organisation under law, administrative regulations or contract. The relevant category and its conditions must fit the actual work.

Article 11 separately recognises organisational authorship where the organisation directs creation, the work represents its will and it bears responsibility. This is a distinct analysis. A logo on the final file, a company computer or a salary payment should not replace evidence addressing the conditions of the route being asserted.

Prepare a short ownership explanation identifying the relied-on rule and the supporting documents. Keep contradictory information visible: a contract may name a different employer, a draft may credit an external designer, or a supplier may have provided the underlying drawing. Resolving those points early is more useful than collecting repeated declarations that the asset is company property.

Connect the right holder to the proposed claimant

The employing company, regional operating company and overseas parent may be separate entities. Even if the employer owns the relevant rights, that does not establish an automatic transfer to the parent. Map each step from the creator or first right holder to the entity proposing to complain or sue.

Where a transfer is relied upon, identify the work, rights, territory and parties in the actual agreement. Article 27 requires a written contract for transfer of the economic rights specified there. Do not treat delivery of editable files as a substitute for analysing the transfer. Existing informal arrangements need a specific review, rather than an invented signature date or a claim that later paperwork has always existed.

If an outside agency created part of the asset, review that contribution under the relevant commissioned-work arrangement instead of describing the agency's personnel as the brand's employees. A parent company's instructions to a subsidiary likewise do not eliminate the need to identify the actual creator and contracting entities.

Build an evidence set that can withstand challenge

Article 6 of the SPC copyright civil interpretation as revised with effect from 1 September 2026 identifies drafts, originals, lawful publications, registration certificates, relevant institutional proof and rights-acquisition contracts among materials that may be used as evidence. A registration certificate can form part of that set; it should not be presented as making a disputed ownership chain conclusive.

• Link each claimed work to its source files and creation chronology.
• Keep the employment or project documents that explain the assigned task.
• Identify the specific statutory or contractual basis for company ownership.
• Preserve any transfer or licence connecting that owner to the enforcing entity.
• Check that the challenged use concerns the version and rights supported by the file.

When an employee leaves, preserve relevant business records through lawful internal procedures and obtain necessary factual clarification while the project history remains accessible. A departure does not, by itself, resolve a pre-existing ownership gap. For an initial assessment, contact Pan Jianxing with a non-confidential description of the work, the entities involved and the available creation and ownership documents.

Pan Jianxing
China-qualified lawyer · Partner, 北京市长安律师事务所
Beijing & Shenzhen
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