Consultation for updating the copyright regime

11.30.2021

Hong Kong : Consultation for updating the copyright regime

The Hong Kong government has on 24 November 2021 launched a 3-month public consultation period on updating Hong Kong’s copyright regime, proposing to reuse the previous bill shelved in 2016 as the basis and starting point.

The key proposal cover the following 5 areas:-

1. Giving copyright owners a technology neutral exclusive communication right to communicate their works through electronic transmission;
2. Introducing criminal offences and sanctions against infringement of the abovesaid communication rights;
3. Introducing new statutory factors in the assessment of awarding additional damages to copyright owners for infringement in the digital environment;
4. Introducing “safe harbour” provisions to conditionally limit OSPs’ liability for their users’ acts of copyright infringement on their service platforms;
5. Last but not least, introducing new copyright exceptions and fair use for the use of copyright works for parody, satire, caricature and pastiche, commenting on current events; and quotation of copyright works and to revise and expand exceptions on using copyright works to facilitate online learning; the operation of libraries, archives and museums; and media shifting of sound recordings;

The consultation further seeks the public’s view on the following 4 issues, in particular:

(1) Maintaining the existing exhaustive approach to copyright exceptions and fair use or introducing an unexhaustive approach with principles regulated;
(2) Continue to allow contracts to override statutory exceptions;
(3) Any specific provisions to deal with illicit streaming devices; and
(4) Judicial site blocking.

Full details of the consultation paper can be found at the below link.
https://www.cedb.gov.hk/citb/en/consultations-and-publications/consultation-papers.html