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Intellectual Property Awareness High In HK,
by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong
Friday, April 10, 2009
Copyright awareness is high among Hong Kong's local firms, according to the latest survey carried out by the region's
Intellectual Property Department.
Of the 1,001 business respondents, more than 92.1% were aware that intellectual
property rights included copyright, trademarks and patents, 93.7% thought
it was necessary to protect IP rights in the local business environment, and
98.3% said IP was a firm's most valuable asset.
Nearly half (46%) thought the government should play the most important role
in reducing IP rights infringement, down from 55.9% in 2006. The government was followed
by educational institutions (19.1%) and copyright owners (17.8%).
Almost 70% said the department's promotional activities were effective in
raising IP protection awareness, up on the 48.3% figure in 2006.
More than 52% said the most serious consequence for a firm infringing others'
IP is criminal liability, up on the 13.3% in 2006. It was followed by civil
liability (17.8%) and damage to a company's reputation and goodwill (15.6%).
Nearly half of the respondents were aware of the new criminal liability that
directors and partners might incur if their firms possessed pirated software
for business use, with 67.7% of them learning this from television or radio
and 42.4% from print advertisements in newspapers and magazines.
The survey showed 72.6% of business firms were unaware there were licensing
schemes operated on behalf of copyright owners authorizing the copying of local
newspaper articles and books for use in business.
On the difference between trademark and company registration only 35% correctly
replied that registering a business or company name was different to registering
a trademark. Another 45.7% were unaware they had to apply for separate registration
of trademarks, patents or designs on the Mainland and in Hong Kong to gain protection
in both places.
For the economic benefits of IP rights protection, the majority of firms thought
it would help enhance the development of local creative industries (84.5%),
create business opportunities and wealth (77.6%) and contribute to the overall
development of the local economy (72.3%).
The findings were consistent with those in the previous surveys.
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