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    The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:


    Following its public consultation on the review of certain provisions of the Copyright Ordinance (Cap 528), the Administration has drawn up its preliminary proposals on various copyright-related issues, the details of which are contained in the following webpage: http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr04-05/english/panels/ci/papers/ci0621cb1-1792-5e.pdf.  A summary of the proposals is as follows:

(a)       to maintain the existing scope of end-user criminal liability relating to the possession of an infringing copy of a copyright work for use in business to the four categories of copyright works, namely, computer programs, movies, television dramas and musical recordings;

(b)       to introduce a new business end-user criminal offence against significant infringement activities involving the act of copying with a view to distributing or the act of distributing infringing copies of copyright works published in books, newspapers, magazines or periodicals for the purpose of and in the course of business, other than by educational institutions which are non-profit making or subvented by the Government;

(c)       to provide statutory defence against the business end-user criminal liability in (a) and   (b) above for employees and certain professionals and persons under specific circumstances;

(d)       to introduce a new criminal offence against the director(s) or partner(s) if a body corporate or partnership has done an act attracting the business end-user criminal liability in (a) or (b) above unless there is evidence proving that the director(s) or partner(s) has not authorized the concerned infringing act to be done;

(e)       to accumulate more enforcement experience before concluding whether and what legislative means should be introduced to facilitate proof of infringing nature of computer programs in business end-user possession criminal offence;

(f)       to exempt from copyright restriction ?fair dealing? with a copyright work for the purposes of education and public administration;

(g)       to extend the scope of some existing ?permitted acts? for education;

(h)       to modify the existing ?permitted acts? for research or private study;

(i)       to prescribe conditions under which libraries may make replacement copies of a copyright work for archiving purposes and involving storing the work in a different medium (medium shifting);

(j) to set aside certain proposals relating to ?permitted acts? put forward to the Panel in 2002 and to take forward other proposals;

(k) to extend existing civil rights of copyright owners against circumvention of technological measures used to protect copyright works from copyright infringement to cover access control measures and the act of circumvention;

(l) to provide that the copyright owner or his exclusive licensee has the same civil right against interference with ?rights management information? as he has in respect of an infringement of copyright;

(m) to introduce a new criminal offence against commercial dealing of devices, products or components and the provision of services on a commercial scale which circumvent technological measures applied to a copy of a copyright work;

(n) to maintain the existing restrictions on parallel importation of copyright works, but remove the criminal and civil liability for importation and possession of such items by educational establishments and libraries for their educational and library uses;

(o) to introduce ?rental rights? for films and comic books; and

(p) to effect those requirements in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (?the Internet Treaties?) which are not yet incorporated in the Copyright Ordinance.

    The Panel on Commerce and Industry now invites written views on any of the above proposals (a) to (p) and /or other related issues.  Interested parties are requested to provide their submission to the Clerk to the Panel on or before Monday, 11 July 2005.  They may also indicate whether they intend to make oral presentation to the Panel at the meeting to be held on Tuesday, 19 July 2005 starting 2:30 pm in Chamber of the Legislative Council Building. Please note that submissions received will be made available to the media and the public and uploaded onto the website of the Legislative Council unless advised otherwise.  

    The relevant address, fax and telephone numbers and e-mail address are as follows:

Address : Clerk to Panel on Commerce and Industry
Legislative Council Secretariat
3/F Citibank Tower,
3 Garden Road,
Central,
Hong Kong

Fax No. : 2121 0420

Tel No. : 2509 4417 or 2869 9246

E-mail Address : slchan@legco.gov.hk

Ends/Saturday, June 25, 2005
Issued at HKT 11:48

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