Before asking someone to stop copying your artwork, photographs, or other creative material in China, connect three things: the specific work, the rights you hold, and the person or company making the claim. A file bearing your brand name does not explain the whole ownership history. For overseas businesses, the missing link is often an employee, a design agency, a freelance creator, or a later transfer between group companies.
This guide focuses on that rights chain before enforcement. Whether the material is protected, which rights are involved, and whether the suspected conduct infringes them still require separate assessment.
First separate ownership from the contract's applicable law
Articles 48 and 49 of China's law on foreign-related civil relationships distinguish these questions. Ownership and the content of intellectual property rights follow the law of the country where protection is sought. Parties may choose the law governing an IP transfer or license; without a choice, the law's contract provisions apply.
Have your representative examine the creation, employment, contracting, and protection facts together. A U.S. work-made-for-hire label, the creator's location, or a contract's governing-law clause should not be treated as a complete answer to every question about a China claim.
Identify the correct starting point under Chinese copyright law
The current Copyright Law provides different ownership routes. These categories should be assessed before assuming an invoice, an employment relationship, or a company byline proves ownership.
An organization treated as the author
Article 11 concerns a work organized by a legal entity or unincorporated organization, created to represent its will, and for which it bears responsibility. Keep records showing those elements. A company logo on a work is not a substitute for explaining how it was created.
A work created to perform an employee's duties
Article 18 generally gives copyright to the author, with priority use by the organization within its business. During the two years after completion, the author cannot license a third party to use the work in the same way as the organization without the organization's consent.
Exceptions include specified design drawings, maps, diagrams, and software created mainly using the organization's material and technical resources and for which it bears responsibility; specified news/media staff works; and cases where law, regulations, or contract provide for organizational ownership. In those cases, the author keeps attribution while the organization holds the other rights. Payroll alone does not identify the applicable route.
A commissioned work
Under Article 19, the contract determines ownership; without a clear agreement, copyright belongs to the commissioned creator. Identify who actually created the work and who contracted with whom. An agency's involvement may introduce another link needing explanation.
Article 27 requires a written contract to transfer the specified economic rights. Distinguish assignment, permission to use, and authority to act against infringement; do not assume one establishes the others.
Connect each step to the current claimant
Build a short chronology for the particular work and version. Start with the creator and the claimed ownership route, then trace any assignment or license to the company or person now seeking action. Use actual legal names, dates, and document references.
Ask these questions at each step:
Which work and version does the document cover? Link it to a sample, creation record, or other reliable identifier.
Who granted the rights, and what supports that person's or entity's ability to grant them?
Which rights were granted, for what territory, duration, and permitted uses?
What conditions, exclusions, retained rights, or additional permissions affect the proposed action?
Does the current claimant match the documents, or is a name change, group-company transfer, agency relationship, or authorization still unexplained?
For example, a brand may have contracted with a studio while the proposed claimant is a different group company. The preparation task is to identify the relevant creation arrangement and any documented transfer or permission connecting those parties. This is a hypothetical file-review example, not a client case or a conclusion that a claim will succeed.
Assemble a rights file with a clear explanation
Preserve dated drafts, source files, version history, creative briefs, delivery records, and the agreements relevant to the identified route. Explain the role of each item rather than presenting a large folder without an index. Preserve originals and distinguish later explanations from records created at the time.
The National Copyright Administration's 2020 administrative-enforcement evidence notice identifies materials that can evidence ownership, including drafts or originals, lawful publications, registration certificates, and contracts through which rights were obtained. Its presumptions are subject to contrary evidence. The notice concerns administrative enforcement; it is not a universal court or platform filing checklist, and it does not mean every item must be supplied in every case.
Keep evidence of the suspected copying alongside, but distinguish it from, proof of your rights. A screenshot of another seller's page may show conduct without explaining your ownership. For further preparation for a civil dispute, see our China IP evidence-preservation guide for overseas businesses.
Questions to resolve before choosing an enforcement route
Does a registration certificate settle ownership?
No. Articles 1 and 2 of the voluntary work-registration measures describe preliminary evidence and voluntary registration that does not affect lawfully acquired copyright. Review the certificate against the actual work, named parties, and rights history. Registration does not repair a missing transfer.
Can a licensee take action in its own name?
Do not assume so from the existence of a license. Have your representative assess the rights granted, any enforcement provisions, the proposed procedure, and the authorization needed. Record unresolved issues before submitting a complaint or sending demands.
What if the paperwork is incomplete?
Identify the gap and seek the relevant original records or a truthful clarification. Do not backdate an assignment or describe a later statement as an original creation record. A documented explanation helps review; it does not guarantee that an authority, court, or platform will accept the claim.
Start with a focused scope assessment
For an initial inquiry, describe the type of work, the general creator relationship, the China-related problem, your budget, and intended timing. Provide a public link if the work is already published. Arrange confidentiality and a secure channel before sending unpublished source material, private contracts, or sensitive business records.
Our China copyright service page explains the registration scope. Ownership review, contract analysis, and enforcement require their own scope assessment. Use the contact page to discuss the appropriate next step.
Official sources checked October 22, 2026. The Copyright Law's 2020 amendment took effect June 1, 2021; the registration measures cited above date from 1994 and took effect in 1995. Their later webpage dates do not make them new rules. This article provides general preparation information, not a case-specific ownership opinion or a promised enforcement outcome.