Copyright law of Hong Kong
Copyright law in Hong Kong to a great extent follows the English model. The Basic Law of Hong Kong, its constitutional document, guarantees a high degree of autonomy and continuation of laws previously in force after its reunification with Mainland China. Hong Kong therefore continues to maintain a separate intellectual property regime from Mainland China. Article 139 and 140 of the Basic Law specifically deal with the protection of copyright in Hong Kong.
Article 139
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall, on its own, formulate policies on science and technology and protect by law achievements in scientific and technological research, patents, discoveries and inventions.
Article 140
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall, on its own, formulate policies on culture and protect by law the achievements and the lawful rights and interests of authors in their literary and artistic creation.
Apart from general substantive criteria, for Copyright to subsist in a work, the statutory requirements with respect to qualification for copyright protection in s 177 must be met (Copyright Ordinance s 2(3)).
Hong Kong has broad copyright protection thanks to its open-qualification system under Copyright Ordinance ss177(1)(a), 177(1)(b) and 178. It means that no requirements of nationality or other status of the author, or of the work's place of first publication need to be satisfied before a work is eligible for protection. Works transmitted over Internet, radio, televisions are all under protection (ss26 and 177(1)(c)).
Nonetheless, Copyright Ordinance s 180(1) allows the Chief Executive to deny or limit copyright protection for works originating in non-reciprocating jurisdictions.
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.
Copyright Ordinance (Cap 528) s 2(i)(a) protects 9 categories of copyrighted works:
In order to successfully claim for copyright protection, 3 criteria must be satisfied: (1) the subject matter must be a 'work'; (2) the work must fall within 1 of the 9 categories stated in s.2(1) of the Hong Kong Copyright Ordinance; and (3) the work must be original if the subject matter is a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work.
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