Editing Intellectual property in China (section)

====History====
The concept of copyright in China has been found to exist at least as far back as the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279). The publishers of a work at that time wrote on the final page of a text that it could not be copied. The first modern official code was implemented in 1910 at the end of the [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1912). A new version was issued in 1915 during the [[Warlord Era]] of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]].<ref name="Yiping">{{cite web |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt8p06h5m1/qt8p06h5m1.pdf |title=The 1990 Copyright Law of The People's Republic of China |last=Yang |first=Yiping |publisher=Pacific Basin Law Journal |date=1993|access-date=February 26, 2021}}</ref> On May 23, 1928, the [[Nationalist Government]] enacted a copyright law that covered books, music, paintings, photographs, engravings, and models. The copyright for most items existed for 30 years after the death of the author. Translations of literary works had a 20-year copyright and photographs had a 10-year copyright after publication. Corporate copyright existed for 30 years after publication.<ref>{{cite book |last=Koepfle |first=Leo |date=January 1937 |title=Copyright Protection Throughout the World Part VII Near East, Far East, Africa, Asia, Surinam and Curacao |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zVKQyc1c8koC |publisher=US Department of Commerce |page=2}}</ref>

The People's Republic of China abolished the Republic of China statutes in 1949.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Alford |first=William P. |title=To Steal a Book is an Elegant Offense: Intellectual Property Law in Chinese Civilization |date=1995 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8047-2270-4 |series=Studies in East Asian Law series |location=Stanford (Calif.) |doi=10.1515/9780804779296 |s2cid=246169874 |author-link=William P. Alford}}</ref>{{Rp|page=56}} The PRC found the Soviet intellectual model more consistent with traditional Chinese thinking than the Republic of China model, as the Soviet model accorded with the idea that through invention or creation, people engaged in social activities drawing on a body of knowledge that belonged to all people.<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|pages=56–57}} In contrast to patents and trademarks, the early PRC did not issue comparable copyright regulations.<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|page=59}} Instead, official policy in this area was set by resolutions passed in the early 1950s.<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|page=60}} These included editorial rules by which state publishing entities were encouraged to memorialize the author-publisher relationship in contracts which would cover submitting manuscripts, publication, and payment.<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|page=60}}

A copyright statute was not adopted until 1990.<ref name="Yiping" /> WIPO provided technical assistance to China during the drafting of the 1990 Copyright Law.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|page=183}}