Hong Kong Copyright Service
Hotline: 86-755-82143422 Email: anitayao@citilinkia.com
A copyright owner can take civil legal action against any person who infringes the copyright in the work. The activities that the owner can prevent vary according to the various types of works; but essentially the owner has the exclusive right to copy the work and to distribute it to the public. The owner may seek all necessary relief against the infringer, such as an injunction to prevent further infringement, an order for delivery up of the infringing items, disclosure of information about the supply and/or dealings of the infringing items and an award for damages as well as costs.
The laws governing parallel importation of copies of copyright works have been liberalized after enactment of the relevant provisions of the Copyright (Amendment) Ordinance 2003 and the Copyright (Amendment) Ordinance 2007. Since 28 November 2003, the restriction on parallel importation has ceased to apply to articles containing a computer program (commonly known as computer software products).
However, if the principal attraction of a computer software product is musical sound or visual recordings, movies, television dramas, e-books, or a combination of them, the restriction continues to apply. Starting from 6 July 2007, there is no longer any civil and criminal sanction for end users to import or possess parallel imported copies of copyright works for use in business.
However, parallel importation of copies of copyright works for any of the following purpose is still subject to civil or even criminal sanctions (see below):
1) dealing in (i.e. selling, hiring or distributing for profit) such copies except computer software products; or
2) where such copies are movies, television dramas, musical sound recordings or musical visual recordings playing or showing any such copyright work in public except by educational establishments or their libraries for educational purposes or library use .
Anyone who manufactures or sells products for defeating technological copyright protection systems is also civilly liable. Border enforcement assistance to copyright owners by the Customs and Excise Department is also available.
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.