Part Two Specific Provisions

Chapter III Crimes of Disrupting the Order of the Socialist Market Economy

Section 7 Crimes of Infringing on Intellectual Property Rights
Article 213 Whoever, without permission from the owner of a registered trademark, uses a trademark which is identical with the registered trademark on the same kind of commodities shall, if the circumstances are serious, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined.

Article 214 Whoever knowingly sells commodities bearing counterfeit registered trademarks shall, if the amount of sales is relatively large, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; if the amount of sales is huge, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined.

Article 215 Whoever forges or without authorization of another makes representation of the person's registered trademarks or sells such representation shall, if the circumstances are serious, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance and shall also, or shall only, be fined; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined.

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

Article 217 Whoever, for the purpose of making profits, commits any of the following acts of infringement on copyright shall, if the amount of illegal gains is relatively large, or if there are other serious circumstances, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; if the amount of illegal gains is huge or if there are other especially serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined:

(1) reproducing and distributing a written work, musical work, motion picture, television program or other visual works, computer software or other works without permission of the copyright owner;

(2) publishing a book of which the exclusive right of publication is enjoyed by another person;

(3) reproducing and distributing an audio or video recording produced by another person without permission of the producer; or

(4) producing or selling a work of fine art with forged signature of another painter.

Article 218 Whoever, for the purpose of making profits, knowingly sells works reproduced by infringing on the copyright of the owners as mentioned in Article 217 of this Law shall, if the amount of illegal gains is huge, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined.

Article 219 Whoever commits any of the following acts of infringing on business secrets and thus causes heavy losses to the obligee shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; if the consequences are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined:

(1) obtaining an obligee's business secrets by stealing, luring, coercion or any other illegitimate means;

(2) disclosing, using or allowing another to use the business secrets obtained from the obligee by the means mentioned in the preceding paragraph; or

(3) in violation of the agreement on or against the obligee's demand for keeping business secrets, disclosing, using or allowing another person to use the business secrets he has.

Whoever obtains, uses or discloses another's business secrets, which he clearly knows or ought to know falls under the categories of the acts listed in the preceding paragraph, shall be deemed an offender who infringes on business secrets.

"Business secrets" as mentioned in this Article refers to technology information or business information which is unknown to the public, can bring about economic benefits to the obligee, is of practical use and with regard to which the obligee has adopted secret-keeping measures.

"Obligee" as mentioned in this Article refers to the owner of business secrets and the person who is permitted by the owner to use the business secrets.

Article 220 Where a unit commits any of the crimes mentioned in the Articles from 213 through 219 of this Section, it shall be fined, and the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for the crime shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the Articles respectively.