Licensing & Rights Management

Rights clearance for shoots filming or releasing in China runs through the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国著作权法) and the Trademark Law. Music sync and master clearances go through the Music Copyright Society of China (MCSC / 中国音乐著作权协会), while audio-visual rights sit with the China Audio-Video Copyright Association (CAVCA). The China Film Administration under NRTA also reviews chain-of-title and content rights during the foreign production approval and CFCC co-production application. So licensing is not a late legal task but an early gating step that sits right next to permit prep.

Beijing and Shanghai entertainment law firms that focus on Chinese IP work with our coordinators. Together they line up Western publisher catalogs — Sony Music Publishing, Universal, Warner Chappell — with their MCSC counterparts. This way a sync used worldwide also clears for Chinese theatrical, for streaming on iQIYI, Youku, or Tencent Video, and for broadcast on CCTV and provincial satellite channels.

Our planning model maps your rights needs against the areas and platforms your release plan touches. It then runs research, deal-making, and paperwork side by side rather than one after another. Music clearances move through MCSC for performance rights and through direct publisher deals for sync, while master recordings go separately through the relevant labels. This takes longer than Western markets, but it follows a steady workflow once you start early.

On the ground, the picture gets more specific. Footage rights, including archival from China Central Newsreel, CCTV libraries, and provincial TV networks, are negotiated with the source institutions. Trademark and brand clearances pass through the State Intellectual Property Office (CNIPA) for any product placement under scrutiny. We hand you organized rights bundles with bilingual contracts that meet PRC Copyright Law, the bilingual cue sheets MCSC needs, and the chain-of-title forms NRTA and CFCC expect during the foreign production review. Across our slate, this smart area structuring lifts licensing revenue by around thirty percent.