Hong Kong Government To Host Copyright Seminar For SMEs

by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong

05 April 2006

The Hong Kong authorities announced this week that a seminar will be held on April 10 to explore copyright issues that are of particular concern to small and medium enterprises, and to explain how the Government's latest proposals to amend the Copyright Ordinance will affect them.

Officials from the Intellectual Property Department will speak on general copyright issues including:

• Acts restricted by copyright;
• Existing business end-user liabilities;
• Existing liabilities related to parallel importation; and
• Licensing schemes promulgated by copyright-licensing bodies.

In addition, a representative from the Commerce, Industry & Technology Bureau will explain the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2006.

Speaking with regard to the matter on a Hong Kong radio show last month Hong Kong Commerce, Industry & Technology Bureau deputy secretary, Mary Chow explained that an effort has been made to balance the interests of both copyright work owners and users.

Ms Chow revealed that contained within the planned changes is a proposal to limit the number of copies of newspapers, magazines and periodicals exempted from the copyright laws to 1,000 within 14 consecutive days. For books and academic periodicals, the proposed limit is a total value of $8,000 within 180 days.

She stated that the limits would be calculated on a cumulative basis, adding that permits should be obtained from the publisher if more copies are needed.

To address concerns about a possible adverse impact on classroom teaching and business operations, she explained that educational establishments that are non-profit-making or get Government subventions will exempted from criminal liabilities, although she added that they must shoulder civil liabilities if copyright holders decide to sue for damages.

On the practice of circulating scanned newspaper cuttings through an intranet, Ms Chow said that the matter has been addressed in the proposed legislative amendments, but the calculation of browsers needs to be sorted out.

If no record is kept on the number of intranet browsers, there is a suggestion to set the number at 10% of an organisation's total number of employees, she added.

With regard to the liberalisation of parallel imports, the Bureau deputy secretary said that the criminal liability period has been shortened from the existing 18 months to nine months, and the removal of the civil and criminal liability associated with the business use of parallel imports has also been proposed.

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