Copyright
JunHe is one of the first Chinese law firms to provide copyright-related legal services. Since the promulgation and implementation of the Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China in 1990, JunHe has provided comprehensive copyright-related legal services to a large number of clients both at home and abroad, especially those in the fields of culture, entertainment, sports and media. With the continuous deepening and strengthening of intellectual property protection in China, JunHe’s copyright practice has been improving and growing, spurring the development of a highly skilled and professional team that can provide a full range of legal services for copyright-related businesses.
Our Team
JunHe's copyright team is composed of more than 20 partners and associates who are based in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other offices and offer comprehensive, accurate, practical and efficient copyright-related legal services in Chinese, English, Japanese and other languages.
This team includes not only transaction-focused lawyers who are skilled at providing legal services in copyright transactions and investments, but also professional litigators who are experienced in litigation related to copyright contracts and infringements, as well as lawyers who have served as judges and presided over copyright-related cases for many years. They have been receiving high accolade from clients for their solid theoretical bases, rich experience in practice and superior legal services.
Core Areas of Practice
JunHe can provide clients with comprehensive legal services related to copyright, in particular, including:
Registration of copyrights: including completing registration formalities for a variety of literary work, fine art work and computer software;
Establishment of the daily management systems of copyright: helping clients to establish a sound copyright management system including the enterprise’s copyright management system, statistical system, transaction system and infringement response mechanisms;
Copyright transactions: providing clients with legal services in copyright transactions from copyright acquisition and licensing to its usage and proceeds by helping clients to draft copyright licensing/transfer contracts and participating in contract negotiations;
Copyright infringements: helping clients to respond to allegations of copyright infringement, taking legal actions against infringements by third parties and providing other legal services.
Overall Solutions
Relying on the all-round legal services provided by JunHe, our copyright team can offer clients not only comprehensive legal services related to copyright, but also legal solutions beyond the scope of copyright law that are designed based on clients’ overall transactions to defend their interests within the overall context of their situation.
Recent Representative Cases
JunHe represented Wemade Entertainment Co., Ltd. in a series of cases relating to game copyright infringement in China. Wemade Entertainment is the copyright owner of the ‘Legend of MirII’ games in China. JunHe assisted Wemade Entertainment and affiliates, protecting them against long-term unauthorized plagiarism, reproduction, imitation and adaptation by multiple infringers in China, including their own Chinese agent, through filing criminal and civil tort actions, issuing warning letters, complaining to operators including Apple and taking other protective measures, and reviewed copyright licensing contracts between the client and its selected licensees.
JunHe advised in a dispute over the copyrighted name and program format of a well-known foreign television program. In this case, JunHe represented the Chinese licensee of the television program by bringing copyright and trademark infringement actions against a Chinese operator with whom it had been cooperating to produce the show after the Chinese operator had used the copyrighted content and name of the television program to produce a new program without the consent of the licensee. Through the action, we compelled the opposing party to seek settlement with our client by applying for a pre-litigation injunction and other remedies, and agreed a substantial settlement.
JunHe represented the new media and IP operations subsidiary of a large, state-owned group in various disputes throughout China concerning the right of dissemination through information network and other copyrights. These included challenges relating to live sports shows, mobile TV broadcast signals and various other cases that were controversial in both theory and practice.
JunHe represented a prestigious Chinese digital library in a digital book copyright dispute. The digital library had been granted copyright by an author, but became embroiled in difficulties that stemmed from the publishing contract between the author and the publisher. The case involved numerous complexities, such as contractual conflicts due to the author’s separate granting of rights and the exercise of rights on joint works.
JunHe provided a prominent Chinese film company with a full suite of legal services with respect to copyright law. Acting as counsel for the film company, JunHe provided advice on matters including the copyright derived from the client’s film and TV drama adaptations of popular online novels, its cooperation with internationally renowned foreign news agencies making documentaries in China and the distribution of various famous foreign films.
