On March 1, 2021, the Amendment to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (XI) [hereinafter referred to as the Amendment to the Criminal Law (XI)] was formally implemented. The Amendment (XI) to the Criminal Law, while revising the existing provisions concerning infringement of copyright, also adds some new provisions on criminal protection of copyright. This revision reflects the coordination and convergence between the Amendment (XI) to the Criminal Law and the newly revised Copyright Law, reflects the response of the legislature to the problems in the judicial practice of criminal protection of copyright, and the strengthening of criminal protection of cultural industry copyright in China.

Lower the threshold for sentencing

The relevant provisions of the Amendment (11) to the Criminal Law concerning infringement of copyright are mainly Article 217 and Article 218. Among them, the amendment to article two hundred and seventeen of the copyright infringement crimes will be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention "instead of" shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years ", up about the legal punishment of the starting point, will be "more than three years but not more than seven years shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more" changed to "not more than three years or more shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than ten years", make light of the plot of such the maximum punishment prescribed up to 10 years; Article 218 For the crime of selling infringing copies, the sentence "to be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention" shall be changed to "to be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years", raising the upper and lower limits of the statutory punishment.

In addition, Article 218 of Amendment (11) of Criminal Law increased the limitation of aggravated offence, which added the limitation of "or having other serious circumstances" on the basis of "a huge amount of illegal amount". This article lowered the threshold of sentencing for selling infringing copies, and gave the judge greater discretion.

Add a crime as a way

Criminal Law Amendment (11) to increase the way into the crime.

First of all, the information network communication behavior into the scope of criminal regulation.

Secondly, the intentional circumvention or destruction of technical measures of rights should be included in the scope of criminal regulation.

Furthermore, the infringement of performers' rights should be included in the regulation category of criminal law.

Promote the systematization of legislation

The convergence between the Amendment (XI) to the Criminal Law and the newly revised Copyright Law is reflected in the following aspects.

First, "infringement of copyright" should be amended to "infringement of copyright or other rights related to copyright".

Secondly, "audio-visual works" should replace the original "film, television and video works".

In addition, the criminal law amendment (11) to amend the "other work" to "other works by the laws, administrative rules and regulations", the type of legal language to take the current copyright law, copyright law and the new change of work type to open, so about the law whether the type of work listed into the punishment may be controversial.