NEW HOPE FOR CONSUMERS OF DIGITAL COPYRIGHT MATERIAL IN HONG KONG

Abstract

Articles 139 and 140 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong state that protection should be given to intellectual property rights in Hong Kong. It comes as no surprise then that Hong Kong has a suite of legislation dealing with each of the major intellectual property regimes, namely copyright, trade marks, patents and registered designs. The copyright regime is enshrined in the Copyright Ordinance (Cap 528) and like most other jurisdictions, registration is not a pre-requisite for obtaining copyright protection, nor are there any formalities that need to be complied with before copyright protection is afforded to a work in Hong Kong. The Copyright Ordinance gives protection to a wide range of creative outputs including literary works (including computer programs), dramatic, musical and artistic works, sound recordings, films, broadcasts, published editions as well as rights in performances and moral rights. Hong Kong is a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and its intellectual property laws generally meet the requirements set out in the WTO Agreement on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPs).