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The Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau will hold a public forum on February 5 to collect views on ways to further improve Hong Kong's legislative regime for the protection of copyright.
The Government released a consultation document on the review of certain provisions of the Copyright Ordinance on December 9, 2004. The public forum is part of the two-month consultation exercise launched by the Bureau. Members of the public are invited to attend.
The public forum will be held at the Lecture Hall, Central Library, 66 Causeway Bay, from 9.30am to 12.30pm. Government representatives will introduce the issues covered in the consultation document. Copyright owners and copyright work users will also be invited to share their views on the protection of copyright with participants.
The issues covered in the consultation document include end-user criminal liability, copyright exemption, end-user liability associated with parallel imported copyright items, defence for employees against end-user criminal liability, circumvention of technological measures for copyright protection, rental rights for films and proof of infringing copies of computer programs in end-user piracy cases.
"These issues all carry wide social implications and require a delicate balance between the interests of copyright owners and those of copyright work users.
"Public views are of great importance to us in improving Hong Kong's copyright protection regime. The government has an open mind on how these issues should be addressed. We invite members of the public to come forward to express their views," a spokesman for the government said today (January 23).
Members of the public who wish to attend the forum should complete the registration forms which are available at the District Offices and websites of the Commerce and Industry Branch of the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau (http://www.info.gov.hk/cib), Intellectual Property Department (http://www.ipd.gov.hk) and the HKSAR Government (http://www.info.gov.hk).
Ends/Sunday, January 23, 2005
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