Part Two Specific Provisions

Chapter III Crimes of Undermining the Order of Socialist Market Economy

Section 7 Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights

Article 213. Whoever, without authorization from the owner of a registered trademark, uses a trademark which is identical to the registered trademark on the same kind of goods shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and shall also be fined, or shall only be fined, if the circumstances are serious; or shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined if the circumstances are especially serious.

Article 214. Whoever knowingly sells goods bearing counterfeit registered trademarks shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and shall also be fined, or shall only be fined, if the amount of illegal gains is relatively large or there is any other serious circumstance; or shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined if the amount of illegal gains is huge or there is any other especially serious circumstance.

Article 215. Whoever forges or produces without authorization the labels of registered trademark of another person or sells the labels of a registered trademark that are forged or produced without authorization shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and shall also be fined, or shall only be fined, if the circumstances are serious; or shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined if the circumstances are especially serious.

Article 216. Whoever counterfeits the patent of another person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also be fined, or shall only be fined, if the circumstances are serious.

Article 217. Whoever falls under any of the following circumstances to, for profits, infringe upon any copyright or any right related to copyright shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and shall also be fined, or shall only be fined, if the amount of illegal gains is relatively large or there is any other serious circumstance; or shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined if the amount of illegal gains is huge or there is any other especially serious circumstance:

(1) reproducing and distributing or communicating to the public through an information network any written work, musical work, work of fine arts, audiovisual work, computer software, or other work set out by a law or administrative regulation without the authorization of its copyright owner;

(2) publishing any book of which another person has the exclusive right of publication;

(3) reproducing and distributing or communicating to the public through an information network any audio or video recording without the authorization of its producer;

(4) reproducing and distributing any audio or video recording of, or communicating to the public through an information network, any performance without the authorization of its performer;

(5) producing or selling any work of fine arts on which the signature of author is fake; or

(6) intentionally evading or disrupting the technical measures taken by a copyright owner or the holder of a right related to the copyright to protect the copyright or right related to the copyright in a work or audio or video recording, among others, without the authorization of the copyright owner or right holder.

Article 218. Whoever, for profits, knowingly sells any infringing reproductions set forth in Article 217 of this Law shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years and shall also be fined, or shall only be fined, if the amount of illegal gains is huge or there is any other especially serious circumstance.

Article 219. Whoever commits any of the following conduct to infringe upon a trade secret shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and shall also be fined, or shall only be fined, if the circumstances are serious; or shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more ten years and shall also be fined if the circumstances are especially serious:

(1) obtaining a right holder's trade secret by theft, bribery, fraud, coercion, electronic intrusion, or any other illicit means;

(2) disclosing, using, or allowing any other person to use a trade secret obtained from a right holder by any means as mentioned in the preceding paragraph; or

(3) disclosing, using, or allowing any other person to use a trade secret known by him in violation of confidentiality obligations or the right holder's requirements for keeping the trade secret confidential.

Whoever knows any conduct set forth in the preceding paragraph but still acquires, discloses, uses, or allows any other person to use the trade secret shall be punished for infringing upon the trade secret.

For the purposes of this article, 'right holder' means the owner of a trade secret and any person permitted by the owner to use the trade secret.

Article 219A. Whoever steals, pries into, buys, or illegally provides any trade secret for any overseas institution, organization, or individual shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years and shall also be fined, or shall only be fined; or shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years and shall also be fined if the circumstances are serious.

Article 220. Where an entity commits a crime provided for in Article 213 through Article 219A of this Section, the entity shall be fined, and its directly responsible executive in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the aforesaid articles of this Section respectively.