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The provisions of the Copyright (Amendment) Ordinances 2007 and 2009 concerning the "copying and distribution offence" come into effect today (July 16).
Under the key provisions, where an organisation, without authorisation of the copyright owner, frequently or regularly makes for distribution or distributes infringing copies of any copyright work in a printed book (including a comic book), newspaper, magazine or periodical in the course of or for the purpose of its trade or business to an extent in excess of the prescribed numeric limits resulting in a financial loss to the copyright owner, such organisation, as well as its directors/partners/persons responsible for its internal management, may be held criminally liable.
To help organisations better understand the offence in order to formulate good business practices for proper management of copyright assets and guard against inadvertent piracy, the Government has published a "Guidance Note on Prevention of End-User Piracy in Business" (Revised Edition 2010) as well as a list of frequently asked questions about the offence. These reference materials together with other information about copyright are now available at www.copyright.gov.hk/update.
Ends/Friday, July 16, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:29
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