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Recently the Government introduces Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2011 into the
Legislative Council on June 15. The Bill seeks to enhance protection for copyright works in
the rapidly changing digital environment. Major proposals under the bill include:
a. Introducing a technology-neutral exclusive right for copyright owners to communicate
their works through any mode of electronic transmission, with ancillary criminal liability
against unauthorized communication of copyright works to the public made in the course of
business for profit or to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the copyright owners.
b. Establishing a statutory "Safe Harbour" for OSPs so that their liability for copyright
infringement occurring on their service platforms could be limited.
c. Introducing a copyright exception for temporary reproduction of copyright works by
OSPs, which is technically required for the digital transmission process to function
efficiently.
d. Introducing a copyright exception for media shifting of sound recordings for private and
domestic use under prescribed conditions.
e. Prescribing additional factors to assist the Court in considering the award of additional
damages in civil proceedings pertaining to online infringement.
Given the legislative amendments affecting more than 4.7 million local Internet users,
groups, information and communications technology industry, and the copyright owners,
we provided a number of recommendations to the Government, two major
recommendations as below.
Regarding the “Code of Practice” for OSPs, we recommended that OSPs should charge
reasonable cost to handle the complaint notice, taking the company scale into consideration
to decide the reasonable time to handle the notice, civil liability to the complainer to avoid
abuse of notice and allowing the publisher to issue counter notice against complaint notice.
Also, in order to eliminate the worry of Internet users about their freedom of expression,
the Government should introduce a copyright exception for “re-creation” on
non-commercial use.
We agree that the law should protect our intellectual property rights in digital environment,
with a balance of ensuring the freedom of expression, creativity on the Internet and would
not hinder the development of Internet services in Hong Kong.
Joe Lam
Chairman of Online Service Provider Alliance
Recently the Government introduces Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2011 into the Legislative Council on June 15. The Bill seeks to enhance protection for copyright works in the rapidly changing digital environment. Major proposals under the bill include:
a. Introducing a technology-neutral exclusive right for copyright owners to communicate their works through any mode of electronic transmission, with ancillary criminal liability against unauthorized communication of copyright works to the public made in the course of business for profit or to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the copyright owners.
b. Establishing a statutory "Safe Harbour" for OSPs so that their liability for copyright infringement occurring on their service platforms could be limited.
c. Introducing a copyright exception for temporary reproduction of copyright works by OSPs, which is technically required for the digital transmission process to function efficiently.
d. Introducing a copyright exception for media shifting of sound recordings for private and domestic use under prescribed conditions.
e. Prescribing additional factors to assist the Court in considering the award of additional damages in civil proceedings pertaining to online infringement.
Given the legislative amendments affecting more than 4.7 million local Internet users, groups, information and communications technology industry, and the copyright owners, we provided a number of recommendations to the Government, two major recommendations as below.
Regarding the “Code of Practice” for OSPs, we recommended that OSPs should charge reasonable cost to handle the complaint notice, taking the company scale into consideration to decide the reasonable time to handle the notice, civil liability to the complainer to avoid abuse of notice and allowing the publisher to issue counter notice against complaint notice. Also, in order to eliminate the worry of Internet users about their freedom of expression, the Government should introduce a copyright exception for “re-creation” on non-commercial use.
We agree that the law should protect our intellectual property rights in digital environment, with a balance of ensuring the freedom of expression, creativity on the Internet and would not hinder the development of Internet services in Hong Kong.
Joe Lam
Chairman of Online Service Provider Alliance
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