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The Hong Kong SAR Government is committed to protecting intellectual property rights (IPRs), with an effective legal framework on IPR protection, backed up by our rigorous enforcement actions and on-going public education programme, the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang said today (November 16).
Speaking on the second day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting in Busan, Korea, Mr Tsang said that we fully recognised that active piracy and counterfeit problems are global issues that call for international cooperation.
"This is especially the case when we are facing the challenges posed to us by the advances in digital technology. Hong Kong, China welcomes further cooperation with other member economies in our efforts in combating IPR infringement in the digital era," he said.
Mr Tsang said our suggestions on the voluntary Model Guidelines on ways to combat counterfeiting and infringing activities and online piracy had been taken on board at the meeting today. It would provide useful reference for member economies to improve their IPR protection regime in the light of local situations.
"Our enforcement efforts against the trading of pirated and counterfeit goods are well recognised. We will continue with our work to combat such illegal activities," he said.
Mr Tsang explained that in Hong Kong, the copyright law was technologically neutral which accorded the same level of protection to works stored in the physical and digital format. The IPR legislation was reviewed from time to time to ensure that it is up-to-date.
"Specifically, we will review whether and how our copyright law should be improved to strengthen protection of copyright works in the digital environment.
"To curtail online piracy, we have adopted a multi-pronged approach which encompasses law enforcement, industry cooperation and public education," he said.
Mr Tsang pointed out that we had been successful in a recent case brought against the prejudicial distribution of copyright works using the Bit Torrent technology.
"It has resulted in a high profile conviction of the offender who has been given a three month imprisonment term. This is the first such case in the world and it has sent a strong signal in deterring such infringing activities.
"We will continue to closely monitor infringing activities on the Internet including those on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and take enforcement actions against infringers in accordance with our law."
Apart from criminal enforcement, Mr Tsang told the meeting that the Hong Kong Government had encouraged copyright owners, with the assistance and co-operation of Internet Service Providers to take civil actions against those who had illegally downloaded their copyright works on the Internet.
On the public education front, Mr Tsang said that Hong Kong had been taking an active role to share our public education and publicity experience with member economies. Copyright owners should also examine and update their business models to offer legitimate channels for consumers to make use of their works in the digital format.
"We look forward to exchanging views on such work in the APEC forum in the future," he said.
Ends/Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Issued at HKT 17:50
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