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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