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    In response to media enquiries on the US-Hong Kong Policy Act Report released by the US Department of State, a spokesman for the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau said today (April 13) that the HKSAR Government noted that the report recognised Hong Kong's efforts in combating piracy and would continue to spare no effort in protecting intellectual property rights.

    "We are glad to learn that the report noted that Hong Kong had made significant progress over the past several years in fighting optical disc piracy and counterfeiting. Besides, the Office of the US Trade Representative also regularly cites Hong Kong as a model in the Asia region for its strong overall protection of intellectual property rights and its tough enforcement against optical disc pirates," the spokesman said.

    As regards the report's concern about business-related end-use piracy, the spokesman explained that since the commencement of the end-user criminal liability in 2001, Hong Kong Customs had been working closely with copyright owners to take enforcement actions to the fullest extent.

    Based on complaints received, Customs has mounted 107 operations since the concerned criminal provision came into effect, in which 76 companies were found to have breached the Copyright Ordinance, giving rise to the arrest of 147 people. Twenty-four cases have been prosecuted in court so far leading to 28 people or companies being convicted and with fines and imprisonment sentences.

    Hong Kong already has a robust legal regime for copyright protection which is in line with the international requirements.  Nonetheless, the Administration keeps the legislation under constant review to ensure that it is effective.  To this end, a public consultation exercise on various issues, including whether and how the existing scope of end-user criminal liability should be expanded and how the enforcement action against end-user software piracy cases can be facilitated, has just ended.

    "We are formulating proposals in light of the submissions received, with a view to improving our copyright protection regime," the spokesman said.

    As regards Internet piracy, the report noted that the problem was not unique to Hong Kong and that the HKSAR Government had repeatedly sought to deepen US-Hong Kong co-operation in combating cyber crimes, including those involving protection of intellectual property.

    "We have been working actively to combat copyright infringing activities on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing networks. A multi-pronged approach encompassing law enforcement, industry co-operation and public education is being adopted.

    "Hong Kong Customs has a dedicated Anti-Internet Piracy team which monitors infringing activities on the Internet round-the-clock.  With the support of copyright industry representatives and the co-operation of Internet service providers, Customs arrested a man for prejudicially distributing movies through the Bit Torrent software in January this year in its first case against P2P file-sharing activities.

    "Customs will continue to closely monitor illegal file sharing activities and take follow-up actions on suspected cases of piracy offences on the Internet. We will also consider whether and how enforcement actions can be taken against other copyright infringing activities using new P2P software.

    "In addition, we will continue our efforts to encourage co-operation between Internet Service Providers and copyright owners. We will also continue to step up our publicity efforts to warn against infringing activities on P2P networks and encourage copyright owners to take civil actions," the spokesman stressed.

    On the protection of patent for pharmaceutical products, the spokesman said Hong Kong had an effective legislative framework to protect patent by the Patents Ordinance. Patent owners of pharmaceutical products can seek civil remedies for patent infringement.

    "Regardless of whether a generic drug has been registered with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, the rights of the patent holder of originator drug remain protected by the Ordinance. Registration of a pharmaceutical product does not release its seller from the duty of observing any intellectual property rights related to that product," the spokesman said.

Ends/Wednesday, April 13, 2005

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