More than 96% of citizens in Hong Kong feel intellectual property protection is necessary, an Intellectual Property Department commissioned study has found.
Announcing the survey findings on February 19, Director of Intellectual Property Stephen Selby said the study shows Hong Kong people are now more aware of the importance of protecting intellectual property rights.
Only 8.6% of respondents often or sometimes bought pirated or counterfeit goods. The figure was less than the 15% in 2005, showing the situation has been gradually improving.
The percentage of respondents who knew that intellectual property included copyright, patents, trademarks and registered designs grew from 84.7% in 2005 to 91.6% in 2008.
"While it is encouraging to see that awareness of intellectual property among Hong Kong people is increasing and they are buying less pirated and counterfeit goods, we need to focus on new trends," Mr Selby said.
Views on downloading
With regards to downloading, Mr Selby explained that "the survey has provided us a better understanding of the situation of legal downloading of files from the Internet among the general public, especially the young generation."
More than 80% of respondents identified that selling and buying pirated CD/DVD/VCDs or computer software, buying counterfeit goods, downloading files and uploading them to the Internet to share them are acts that infringe intellectual property rights.
However, only 40.7% of respondents considered buying a genuine CD and converting it to MP3 for personal use to be an infringing act - although doing so could result in civil liability.
About 80.3% of the respondents said it was morally wrong to download files from unauthorized websites. However, 78.6% of those who surfed the Internet claimed they would not pay for legal downloading from authorized websites. A total of 47% of respondents considered it inconvenient to buy online.
Response to no fakes scheme
Regarding public response to the No Fakes Pledge Scheme, 50.1% of respondents had heard of the scheme, and more than four-fifths considered it helpful in building confidence among consumers and tourists shopping in Hong Kong.
Nearly 77% of respondents received information about intellectual property protection through television, Mr Selby said, adding the department will continue to put out publicity messages on TV and other media.
On the long-term development of intellectual property rights, 76% of respondents said intellectual property rights protection could help the development of local creative industries.
The report concluded that more than 80% of respondents felt the government should put more resources in protecting intellectual property rights in the long run.
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