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Apart from running Hong Kong's Patents and Trademarks Registries, the IPD has the task of promoting a respect for intellectual property rights in Hong Kong.
"The INTERNET World Wide Web is an obvious choice for putting across our message," an IPD spokesman said today (Friday).
"More and more schools, universities, professional people and commercial organisations are linking to the INTERNET, and computer-literate people are the targets for one of our most important messages - 'Always use licensed computer software"."
Apart from the sort of information brochures we provide at our enquiry information and our Performance counters (for example "how to apply
IN
Pledge), we plan for the centre to operate like a news-sheet.
"We have also invited contributions from the collecting societies, which collect royalties for musical and video performances, as well as groups like the Business Software Alliance," the spokesman said.
"Although the INTERNET is a centre for computer enthusiasts, we have to remember that all types of intellectual property rights need to be protected.
"I hope that later, we will get offers of contributions from other organisations interested in IP protection outside the Government to add to our 'news- sheet'.
"Unfortunately, because of technical limitations, the World Wide Web cannot display information in Chinese at present."
To connect to IPD's information centre, one needs a computer linked to the INTERNET through a MODEM, which allows computers to pass data across telephone lines, like a fax machine.
Most people use special software available from INTERNET (which comes with a free licence for evaluation purposes or use by students or in non- profit organisations) to search for information on the World Wide Web. Some common pieces of software are called "Mosaic" and "Netscape".