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Following is a transcript (English portion) of the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph WP Wong, speaking to the media on the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2006 today (March 16):
Reporter: Can you explain in English how your proposal can cover copyright protection, how it is effective and how proper balance has been struck between copyrights and consumer rights?
SCIT: Maybe I will say a few words in English. We will gazette the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2006 tomorrow and we will introduce the Bill into the Legislative Council on March 29.
The main purpose of the Bill is to enhance the protection for copyright owners but at the same time we will have to take care of the reasonable interests of the users, particularly the education sector. We will also have to meet aspirations of the general consumers in respect of the relaxation of parallel imports.
The major provisions of the Bill include, for example -
Introducing a new criminal offence to combat significant infringing activities involving copying and distributing in business four types of printed works, which are newspapers, magazines, periodicals and books. But in order not to inhibit teaching and learning in the education institutions, this criminal offence will not apply to non-profit-making schools or schools subvented by the Government.
We will introduce rental rights for films and comic books so that the relevant copyright owners may seek civil remedies from infringers.
We will provide exemption for reasonable use of copyright works for the purpose of education as well as for public bodies in urgent cases.
In respect of the benefits to the general consumers, we will shorten the period in which parallel importation for commercial purposes may attract criminal liability from the existing 18 months to nine months.
No doubt a lot of these amendments are controversial, but these had been drawn up after two years of extensive consultation. I would also make the point that we maintain an open mind. We are willing, during this legislative process, to continue to engage various stakeholders and if we think that public interest is better served, we are willing to propose amendments to the Bill.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Thursday, March 16, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:35
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