Hong Kong Copyright Service
Hotline: 86-755-82143422 Email: anitayao@citilinkia.com
Copyright law tries to maintain a balance between the rights of copyright owners for adequate payment for the use of their works, and the rights of society as a whole to have access to ideas and information. It is often said that copyright does not protect ideas, but only the expression or product of ideas. For example, you will probably infringe the copyright in a recipe book if you photocopy it without authorisation. But if you use the recipe to make a meal, copyright in the book is not infringed.
The Copyright Ordinance currently in force in Hong Kong has come into effect since 27 June 1997. The Ordinance as reviewed and revised from time to time provides comprehensive protection for recognised categories of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, as well as for films, television broadcasts and cable diffusion, and works made available to the public on the Internet. Furthermore, performers of live performances and persons having exclusive recording contracts with performers are also entitled to protection.
There are no formalities required to obtain copyright protection for a work in Hong Kong. Works of authors from any place in the world, or works first published anywhere in the world, also qualify for copyright protection in Hong Kong.
Through the application of many international copyright conventions in Hong Kong, i.e. the Berne Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, the Phonograms Convention, the World Trade Organisation - Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, your work is also protected in most countries and territories in the world.
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.