Periscope
Video-sharing: copyright violations unchecked
Govˇ¦t yet to act
The government has yet to draft specific guidelines to combat copyright violations on foreign video-sharing websites.
The Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau conduct a public consultation later this year to address issues on online copyright infringements and to look into whether the law had to be changed in view of the developments in the digital market. The issues will cover the liability of violations on the internet, unauthorised uploading and downloading, assistance for copyright owners to take civil actions against online infringements, statutory damages for infringement and the role of internet service providers.
At present, whether cross-border copyright infringement on the internet is under regulation of Hong Kong ˇ¦s Copyright Ordinance depends on specific circumstances of individual cases, said Maria Kaiser Ng, senior solicitor on copyright of the Intellectual Property Department.
A spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department, another agency responsible for cracking down piracy, said the department could not enforce the law beyond Hong Kong ˇ¦s jurisdiction. He simply added that the department would continue to share experience and intelligence with mainland Chinese and overseas law enforcement bodies to heighten the fight against online copyright violations.
US cases
Filing lawsuits against websites that contain copyright infringing materials is no common practice even in foreign countries.
In the United States , for example, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which regulates copyright violations on the internet, harbours internet service providers from being held liable to their usersˇ¦ copyright violations. Only when the major function of the websites was for distributing infringing materials and that the websites had not adopted appropriate measures to stop the violations, would they be held accountable for breaching the law.
Napster, a website which facilitates its users to share music, was forced to close down in 2001 after copyright lawsuits in the US . The site has been relaunched since the following year as a paid service.
Most video-sharing websites are only providing platforms for distribution, while web users upload videos there. If the websites are not directly involved in the distribution of copyrighted materials, normally they do not need to bear the legal responsibility for copyright infringement, Mr Sin said.
Users infringe copyright by uploading TV dramas, concert clips and film trailers to video-sharing websites.
