Hong Kong is back in the copyright field after a seven-year. On November 24, 2021, the HKSAR Government started a three-month public consultation on amending Hong Kong’s copyright law.
Following a nearly seven-year delay since the last attempt to pass the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2014 (“2014 Bill”) was adjourned due to filibustering, the government will hold a public consultation on various amendments to the current copyright law to address problems that were not resolved in the previous legislation amendment session, as well as to request additional public consultation on four other problems.
Proposal to update Hong Kong’s Copyright Regime
The Government is planning to update Hong Kong’s copyright regime using the 2014 Bill as a foundation. The important legislative initiatives are divided into five categories:
- To grant copyright holders an exclusive communication right that is technology-neutral, ensuring that their works are protected when they are conveyed to the public via any means of electronic transmission;
- To impose criminal penalties for infringements connected to the aforementioned exclusive communication right’s implementation;
- To increase copyright owners’ protection in the digital realm, two new statutory considerations will be considered by the court when deciding whether to award substantial damages to them in civil cases involving infringement.
- Introduce “safe harbor” clauses that restrict OSPs’ responsibility for their subscribers’ copyright infringement activities on their service platforms if certain requirements are met, such as taking reasonable efforts to limit or stop a copyright infringement after being alerted; and
- To create new copyright exceptions for the use of copyright works for 3 groups of specific purpose: parody, satire, caricature, and pastiche; commenting on current events, and quotation of copyright works; and to revise and broaden exceptions on multiple methods of using copyright works to facilitate online learning; the operation of libraries, archives, and museums; and media adjusting of sound recordings;
Furthermore, the consultation document contains four topics on which the public’s views are consulted:
- whether the existing exhaustive approach to exceptions should be maintained;
- whether to continue allowing contracts to override statutory exceptions;
- whether there should be specific provisions to deal with illicit streaming devices; and
- judicial site blocking.
The government has claimed that it is aware of other emerging difficulties that must be handled, and it has particularly highlighted the following three topics, which it believes will be addressed in future legislative modifications, as well as other issues:
- Extension of copyright term of protection
- Introduction of specific copyright exceptions for text and data mining
- AI and copyright
Hong Kong’s copyright legislation has fallen behind those of other countries, hence this consultation has been long awaited. While there is still a long way to go in terms of protecting different types of current and future forms of copyright works, this is a great first step.
The list of Hong Kong IP Firms can be found here.