Hong Kong, 5 December 2015 – CASBAA today renewed its appeal to Hong Kong’s legislature to pass proposed amendments to the Copyright Ordinance when they come up for debate later this week. The amendments are critical to the future of the content industries in the SAR; they bring digital copyright principles to Hong Kong for the first time. “Hong Kong’s IP law is in dire need of updating,” said Chief Policy Officer John Medeiros, “in order to take account of legal and illegal digital distribution of copyrighted materials, including entire online packages of pirated pay-TV programming.”
Provisions to bring the digital world under reasonable and balanced copyright law have been debated for almost a decade in Hong Kong. (The SAR does not now have laws to implement its latest WIPO treaty commitments.) “While the laws are delayed, online piracy has flourished,” said Medeiros. “The lack of good laws in Hong Kong is causing huge damage to the creative industry. It is not theoretical; real jobs are being lost.”
The legislature next week will consider a series of more than 900 amendments to weaken the bill, and the “netizen” lobby is pushing for the bill’s defeat if their wishes aren’t met. For its part, CASBAA does not think the bill provides strong enough protection for copyrighted broadcasts, but on balance CASBAA prefers the bill be passed now, so that other issues – including the netizens’ proposed new exceptions as well as additional enforcement authority against commercial-scale piracy syndicates – can be considered in detailed consultations next year.
The bill has been dubbed an “Internet Article 23” by its detractors, confusing the public with the state security legislation in Hong Kong that was proposed, and then withdrawn, in 2003. “This nickname has become a distraction to the deliberation of the real issues in the bill,” Medeiros said. “Good copyright laws exist in all of the world’s leading democracies, and there is no contradiction between protecting creation of quality video programming, and basic civil rights.”
###
促請香港立法會通過更全面的電子版權法案
亞洲有線與衛星電視廣播協會（CASBAA，下稱「協會」）今日再次敦促香港立法會在本周稍後的會議上，通過對《版權條例》的建議修訂。該次修訂對香港特別行政區內容產業的未來尤關重要，將是香港歷來首次訂立數碼版權的相關原則。協會首席政策總裁馬德朗（John Medeiro）表示：「香港的知識產權法規亟需更新，以涵蓋通過合法與非法數碼渠道發布的內容，包括以整套形式於網上發布的盜版付費電視節目。」
在過去近十年間，針對監管數碼世界的版權，香港社會已進行多次廣泛辯論，以求制定合理並兼顧各方權益的版權法（香港特區目前尚未具備相應版權法例，以致無法履行世界知識產權組織(WIPO)版權條約的最新承諾）。馬德朗續道：「法例遲遲未立，盜版行為越見猖獗。一日法規未能完善，將繼續對創意工業帶來嚴重傷害，而這種傷害並非單是理論上的，而是確切令業界流失就業機會。」
立法會下周將審議針對條例草案的超過900項修訂，這一系列修訂目的不外為削弱草案效力；而與此同時，「網民」組織亦致力遊說各界，聲稱如要求未獲接納，將全力反對條例草案通過。以協會的立場來說，條例草案現時雖未能為廣播版權提供充足保障，然而綜觀全局，協會仍傾向草案能順利通過，好讓其他議題能於下年度的諮詢中詳細討論，包括網民提出的新增豁免範圍以及加強針對商業盜版集團的執法等。
《版權（修訂）條例草案》被反對者喻為「網絡23條」，令公眾將之與2003年提出並迅即撤回的國家安全條例草案互為混淆，正如馬德朗分析道：「該具誤導性的稱謂只會妨礙公眾探討草案背後的真正議題。事實上，全球所有民主體制都設有版權法，而保障優質節目製作與維護基本公民權利完全可以並存，兩者並無衝突。」
###