Section 7

Crimes of Infringing on Intellectual Property Rights

Article 213 Whoever, without permission of the right holder of a registered trademark, uses a trademark representation which is identical with the registered trademark on the same kind of commodities or services, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only. If the circumstances are especially serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years, and concurrently, a fine.

Article 214 Whoever knowingly sells counterfeit commodities bearing another’s registered trademark, if the amount of illegal gains is relatively large or there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only. If the amount of illegal gains is large, or there are other especially serious circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years, and concurrently, a fine.

Article 215 Whoever forges, or makes without authorization of the right holder, representations of a registered trademark, or sells such representations, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only. If the circumstances are especially serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years, and concurrently, a fine.

Article 216 Whoever uses the patent of another without authorization, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only.

Article 217 Whoever, for the purpose of making profits, commits any of the following acts infringing on copyrights or copyright-related rights, if the amount of illegal gains is relatively large or there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only. If the amount of illegal gains is large or there are other especially serious circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years, and concurrently, a fine:

(1) reproducing, distributing, or disseminating to the public through information network the written works, music, works of fine arts, audiovisual works, computer software, or other works prescribed by laws or administrative regulations, without permission of the copyright owner;

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

(3) reproducing, distributing, or disseminating to the public through information network a sound or video recording, without permission of the producer;

(4) reproducing or distributing sound or video recordings of a performance or making the performance available to the public through information network, without permission of the performer;

(5) producing or selling a work of fine art with a forged signature of a painter; or

(6) intentionally circumventing or destroying the technological measures which are adopted by a copyright owner or copyright-related right holder to protect the copyright or copyright-related rights on a work or on a sound or video recording, etc., without permission of the copyright owner or copyright-related right holder.

Article 218 Whoever, for the purpose of making profits, knowingly sells works reproduced which infringe on the copyright or copyright-related rights as mentioned in Article 217 of this Law, if the amount of illegal gains is large or there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 5 years, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only.

Article 219 Whoever commits any of the following acts infringing on business secrets, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only. If the circumstances are especially serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years, and concurrently, a fine:

(1) obtaining a right holder’s business secrets by theft, bribing, fraud, coercion, electronic intrusion, or by any other unjustifiable means;

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

(3) disclosing, using, or allowing another to use the business secrets one has learned, by breaching his confidentiality obligation or by going against the right holder’s demand for keeping said business secrets confidential.

Whoever, knowing that the business secrets fall under the circumstances specified in the preceding paragraph, obtains, discloses, uses, or allows another to use such business secrets, shall be deemed an offender who infringes on business secrets.

Right holders as mentioned in this Article refer to the owner of business secrets and the authorized users of the business secrets.

Article 219a Whoever acquires through theft or spying, or illegally purchases or provides business secrets for an overseas institution, organization or individual shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 5 years, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only. If the circumstances are serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 5 years, and concurrently, a fine.

Article 220 An entity committing a crime as prescribed in Articles 213 to 219a of this Section shall be fined, and the directly responsible persons in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be punished in accordance with the provisions in the corresponding article of this Section.

Section 8

Crimes of Disrupting Market Order

Article 221 Whoever fabricates facts and spreads misinformation to damage another’s business goodwill or commodity reputation, if heavy losses are caused to the victim or there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 2 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only.

Article 222 Any advertiser, advertisement agency, or advertisement publisher that, in violation of the state regulations, promotes commodities or services by false advertising, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 2 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only.

Article 223  Bidders who act in collusion with each other in offering bid prices, thus harming the interests of a bid-inviter or of other bidders, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only.

Where a bidder and a bid-inviter act in collusion with each other in a bidding, thus harming the lawful interests of the state, the collective, or citizens, they shall be punished in accordance with the provisions in the preceding paragraph.

Article 224  Whoever, when concluding or performing a contract, commits any of the following acts to defraud the other party of money or other forms of property for the purpose of illegal possession, if the amount involved is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only. If the amount involved is large or there are other serious circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years, and concurrently, a fine. If the amount involved is especially large or there are other especially serious circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment, and concurrently, a fine or confiscation of property:

(1) signing a contract in the name of a non-existent entity, or in the name of someone else without authorization;

(2) offering as a guaranty a forged, an altered, or an invalidated negotiable instrument or any other false property right certificate;

(3) inducing the other party to continue to sign and perform a contract by way of fulfilling part of the contract or a contract of small value, while having no fulfilling ability;

(4) absconding after receiving the goods, payment for goods, advanced payments, or property as a guaranty from the other party; or

(5) defrauding the other party of money or other forms of property by any other means.

Article 224a Whoever obtains money or other forms of property at the price of disrupting economic and social order by organizing or leading pyramid selling activities that are conducted under the guise of business activities of selling goods, providing services, or the like, in which people are demanded to pay fees or purchase goods or services, etc., in order to join as members, and are arranged in a hierarchy according to a certain order, with their remuneration or the return of profits directly or indirectly based on the number of new members they bring in, so that they are induced or even coerced to continue to introduce others as new members, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 5 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine. If the circumstances are serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 5 years, and concurrently, a fine.

Article 225 Whoever, in violation of the state regulations, commits any of the following illegal acts in business operation, thus disrupting market order, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 5 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine of not less than the amount of illegal gains but not more than five times the amount, or shall be sentenced to a fine on the said scale only. If the circumstances are especially serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 5 years, with a fine of not less than the amount of illegal gains but not more than five times the amount, or confiscation of property:

(1) dealing, without permission, in goods that are designated by laws or administrative regulations to be operated or sold in a monopoly way, or in other goods the trading of which is restricted;

(2) buying or selling an import or export license, certificate of origin, or any other business license or approval paper prescribed by laws or administrative regulations;

(3) illegally conducting stock, futures or insurance business, or illegally engaging in payment and settlement business, without approval from the competent department of the state; or

(4) any other illegal act in business operation that seriously disrupts market order.

Article 226 Whoever commits any of the following acts by violence or threat, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only. If the circumstances are especially serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 7 years, and concurrently, a fine: 

(1) forcing another to buy or sell commodities;

(2) forcing another to provide or accept services;

(3) forcing another to participate in or withdraw from bidding or auction;

(4) forcing another to transfer or acquire shares, bonds, or other assets of a company or an enterprise; or

(5) forcing another to participate in or withdraw from specific business activities.

Article 227 Whoever counterfeits train or ship tickets, stamps or other tickets of value or resells such tickets or stamps for profits, if the amount involved is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 2 years, short-term custody, or non-custodial correction, and concurrently, a fine of not less than the value of the tickets but not more than five times the value, or shall be sentenced to a fine on the said scale only. If the amount involved is large, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 2 years but not more than 7 years, with a fine of not less than the value of the tickets but not more than five times the value.

Whoever resells train or ship tickets for profits, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years, short-term custody, or non-custodial correction, and concurrently, a fine of not less than the value of the tickets but not more than five times the value, or shall be sentenced to a fine on the said scale only.

Article 228 Whoever, in violation of the provisions in laws or regulations on land administration, illegally transfers or resells the land-use right to make profits, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine of not less than 5 percent but not more than 20 percent of the transaction price, or shall be sentenced to a fine on the said scale only. If the circumstances are especially serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 7 years, with a fine of not less than 5 percent but not more than 20 percent of the transaction price.

Article 229 An employee of an intermediary agency undertaking the duty of asset appraisal, capital verification, validation, accounting, auditing, serving as a sponsor, or providing legal service, safety evaluation, environmental impact assessment, environmental monitoring, etc. who deliberately provides false documents of proof, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 5 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine. Under any of the following circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 5 years but not more than 10 years, and concurrently, a fine:

(1) providing a false document of proof on asset appraisal, accounting, auditing or legal service, a false sponsor letter, or other false documents of proof related to the issuance of securities, and the circumstances are especially serious;

(2) providing a false document of proof on asset appraisal, accounting or auditing, or other false documents of proof related to major asset transactions, and the circumstances are especially serious; or

(3) providing a false document of proof on safety evaluation, environmental impact assessment, or the like for a major project or program which concerns public safety, thus causing extremely heavy losses to public property or the interests of the state or the people. 

Whoever commits a crime in the preceding paragraph and, in the meantime, solicits or illegally accepts money or other forms of property from another, which also constitutes a crime, shall be convicted and sentenced according to the provisions which specify a heavier punishment.

Whoever as mentioned in the first paragraph is seriously remiss in his duty and produces a document of proof that contains a major misrepresentation, thus causing serious consequences, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only.

Article 230 Whoever, in violation of the provisions in the Law on Import and Export Commodity Inspection, evades commodity inspection and sells or uses the import goods without due inspection by any commodity inspection agency, or exports goods yet to be proven qualified through due inspection by the commodity inspection agency, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine, or shall be sentenced to a fine only.

Article 231 An entity committing a crime as prescribed in Articles 221 to 230 of this Section shall be fined, and the directly responsible persons in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be punished in accordance with the provisions in the corresponding article of this Section.