The Copyright Ordinance Hong Kong

In 2014 the Hong Kong Government administration published a Consultation Paper upon proposed amendments to the Copyright Ordinance.

For various reasons basically inclusive of filibustering in the Legislative Council upon various readings of the Bill to amend the Copyright Ordinance, it ran out of legislative time and was abandoned.

Now, with the advent of much saner attitudes in the Legislative Council to the process of legislating for the benefit of the Hong Kong community the administration has introduced a new Consultation Paper on 24th November, 2021 which is based upon the previous content for amendment of the Copyright Ordinance and is predicated upon the following 5 principals proposals to amend:-

1.      provision of a technology-neutral communication right for the publication by copyright owners of their copyright works to the public which can be seen as encompassing and authorizing the “streaming” process of communication of a copyright work.

2.      to enact new offences to criminalize distribution of infringing copies of copyright work.

3.      where it is appropriate to cache data the proposal is to exempt media shifting and day-to-day internet activities with particular reference to parody and comment on current affairs.

4.      the provision of a defensive regime for online service providers to exempt them from liability for copyright infringement communicated by third party infringers on the platforms of the online service providers.

5.      to increase the ability of the courts to award additional damages having regard to the general circumstances of infringement of copyright.

The Consultation Paper published on 24 November, 2021 gives a consultation period open until the 23 February, 2022.