Zhang Jun, president of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), discussed the protection of cultural and artistic rights with a delegation from the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC) in Beijing on Feb 27, which was led by Zhang Zheng, vice-president of the federation.

Zhang Jun emphasized that protecting rights and interests in the field of literature and art, as well as safeguarding the lawful rights of artists, was of great significance for fostering a sound cultural environment, promoting positive social values and encouraging stronger public confidence in the rule of law and in Chinese culture. 

Courts at all levels, he noted, should enhance their sense of responsibility and mission, fully recognize the importance of judicial protection in the cultural sphere and ensure that policies and measures are effectively implemented.

Zhang Jun, president of the Supreme People’s Court, meets in Beijing with a delegation from the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, which is led by its vice-president, Zhang Zheng, on Feb 27. [Photo/court.gov.cn]

He called for strict law-based punishment of copyright infringement, online defamation and other acts that disrupted artistic creation or infringed upon artists’ lawful rights. 

The coordination mechanism between the SPC and the CFLAC should be leveraged to clarify behavioral standards through typical cases, address both symptoms and root causes and foster a healthy ecosystem for cultural development, he said.

He also stressed the importance of prevention at the source, saying that the SPC would work with the CFLAC and relevant parties to develop standardized and practical model contracts for the cultural and artistic sectors. The two sides should work together to strengthen governance in cyberspace, promote public legal awareness and improve the legal literacy of artists and cultural enterprises, with a view to preventing and comprehensively addressing disputes at an early stage, he added.

In response to emerging issues brought by the rapid development of the digital economy and artificial intelligence, he underscored the need for joint research and analysis with the CFLAC to advance lawful resolution of disputes and improvement of judicial policies, so as to promote regulated and orderly development in the cultural and artistic field. 

He called for collaboration with the CFLAC to tap into the rich resources of judicial cases, promote core socialist values and contribute to advancing both the rule of law and cultural development, thereby providing strong support for a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30).

Zhang Zheng noted that China’s cultural and artistic sector was experiencing robust growth, with a large and expanding community of artists, the emergence of new artistic organizations and groups and the rapid rise of new forms of popular culture thriving in the digital age. 

At the same time, the protection of rights in the field faced new circumstances and challenges, characterized by a large number of stakeholders, complex issues and greater difficulty in handling disputes, he noted. 

Problems such as difficulty in identifying infringement, collecting evidence, determining liability and high litigation costs have become increasingly prominent — not only harming artists’ lawful rights, but also constraining the healthy development of the sector, he said.

To better fulfill the responsibilities and guiding role of the federation in the development of the sector, Zhang Zheng called for further improving the coordinated dispute resolution mechanism and enhancing mediation efficiency. 

He also suggested establishing a joint research mechanism for judicial interpretations, where the two sides can conduct collaborative studies on issues such as platform-based infringement and online violence and strengthen coordination in judicial interpretation. 

Furthermore, he called for deeper engagement in legislative processes, with coordinated efforts in research, drafting and revision of relevant laws and regulations to improve the legal protection framework for the cultural and artistic sectors. 

He stressed the need to strengthen safeguards for the protection of rights in key areas such as artificial intelligence-related infringement, platform liability, infringement of screenwriters’ rights and online violence.

He also highlighted the importance of enhancing public legal education and professional training to improve artists’ awareness of the rule of law and their capabilities to safeguard their lawful rights. 

He urged closer collaboration between the cultural and judicial communities to foster a fairer and more orderly environment for artistic creation, create more favorable conditions for the development of cultural works on rule-of-law themes, and stimulate innovation and originality, playing a part in building up China's cultural strength and advancing law-based governance in the country.

The meeting was chaired by Liu Guixiang, a standing member of the SPC’s Adjudication Committee. Li Xin, a member of the CFLAC’s leading Party members group and Secretariat, briefed participants on relevant work. 

Xu Yongjun, vice-president of the CFLAC and a member of its Secretariat, as well as representatives from relevant departments of the SPC and the CFLAC, also attended the meeting.