Hong Kong Copyright Service
Hotline: 86-755-82143422 Email: anitayao@citilinkia.com
The Copyright Ordinance (Cap 528), which became effective on 27 June 1997, is Hong Kong's first purely local copyright law. However, the Copyright Act 1956 of the United Kingdom will continue to apply to the protection of copyright of works created before 27 June 1997.
Categories of Copyright Works
Copyright Ordinance (Cap 528) s 2(i)(a) protects 9 categories of copyrighted works:
1. Literary works
2. Dramatic works
3. Musical works
4. Artistic works
5. Sound recordings
6. Films
7. Broadcasts
8. Cable programmes
9. Typographical arrangement of published editions
Duration of Copyright
S.17 to 21 of the Copyright Ordinance deal with the duration of copyright works. The author of the work is deemed to be the person who creates the work (with exceptions for commissioned works and employee works). S.17(1) to (5) states that the duration of copyright of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works is the life of the author plus 50 years, or 50 years from the end of the year in which the work was first created or made available to the public if the identity of the author is not known.
Except for typographical arrangement of published editions, the duration of copyright in other works is also 50 years from certain events specified in the Copyright Ordinance.The duration of copyright in typographical arrangement of published editions is 25 years from the year of first publication, according to S.21 of the Copyright Ordinance.
Moral Rights
The Hong Kong Copyright Ordinance Pt II Div IV (ss 89-100) recognizes the following two types of moral rights ("droit d'auteur") in favour of the author, director or commissioner of the work regardless of whether he is the owner of the copyright: (i) Right to be identified as author or director (Copyright Ordinance s 89); and (ii) Right to object to derogatory treatment of work Copyright Ordinance s 92.
Contact Us
For further queries, please do not hesitate to contact ATAHK at anytime, anywhere by simply calling China hotline at 86-755-82143422, 86-755-82143512, or emailing to anitayao@citilinkia.com.