AI-generated illustration; not a client work.
Creation is one part of the chain
Collect source files, draft versions, dated communications and publication records. Keep originals and their metadata. Explain who created the work and in what relationship: employee, contractor, studio or independent author.
Payment does not answer every ownership question
Locate the agreement governing the work. Check assignments, licences and the scope of rights. The entity that commissioned or paid for a work is not necessarily entitled to assert every copyright claim. Applicable law and contractual terms need to be reviewed.
Connect the rights to the alleged use
Identify each work and match it to the complained-of copy. Record where the use appears, its date, the operator if known, and the nature of the act. Check previous licences or permissions before describing the use as unauthorised.
Check the China protection basis
Foreign works may be protected through the statutory and treaty routes in Article 2 of the Copyright Law. Record the author’s nationality or habitual residence, first publication details where relevant, and the rights holder’s chain of title.
A copyright certificate can support the file. It should be reviewed alongside the underlying creation, ownership and publication evidence, rather than treated as the whole case.
For the first message
Describe the work, the rights holder, the suspected use in China and any known deadline. Keep unpublished originals and commercially sensitive agreements for an agreed document-sharing process after the initial check.
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Legal basis & review date
Checked 20 September 2026. Official Chinese texts govern; the English explanations on this site are summaries.
- Copyright Law of the PRC (2020 amendment), Articles 2–3, 10–12, 52–57
- Civil Procedure Law of the PRC (2023 amendment), Articles 73, 274–275
General information about mainland China. Application depends on the rights, conduct, evidence and procedure in the particular matter.