Copyright

The copyright regime in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is
in line with prevailing international standards and norms. Hong Kong
protects literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, published editions,
sound recordings, films, broadcasts, cable programmes, and performers'
performances. Under the new Copyright Ordinance, the economic right of
copyright owners and performers has been enhanced to cover copyright
works and performances made available to the public through the Internet
or similar digital environments. Parallel imported articles attract criminal
and civil liabilities under certain conditions. Extra-copyright technological
provision have been introduced, imposing civil liabilities on commercial
dealings with devices designed to circumvent copy-protection and any
tampering with electronic rights-management information. Special
copyright exceptions are permitted only to the extent that they do not
conflict with a normal exploitation of the work or performances nor do
they unreasonably prejudiced the legitimate interests of rights owners. The
moral rights of paternity and integrity for authors of works are also
protected.

On civil and criminal remedies, Hong Kong has reinforced its proof
facilitation provisions to make them more user-friendly. Border measures
continue to be available in the case of civil suits. Criminal penalties have
been doubled: the selling of infringing copies attracts a maximum fine of
$50,000 (per copy) and up to four years' imprisonment. Customs
Officers have also been given extra powers to seize suspected infringing
copies. Separately, a consultation paper on the 'Prevention of Copyright
Piracy Bill' has been issued. It seeks to introduce a mandatory registration
system of businesses manufacturing optical discs and to require such
optical discs to be permanently embossed with the manufacturer's code.

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