13
Wednesday, January 3, 1973
GREATER COPYRIGHT PROTECTION FOR WORKS
Under U.K. Act And New Bill
Owners of copyright in literary, musical and dramatic works
will be afforded greater protection under the United Kingdom Copyright
Act 1956 and under the Copyright Bill 1973, the Attorney General, the
Hon. D.T.R. Roberts, said today.
He gave the assurance when moving the second reading of the now
Bill in the Legislative Council this afternoon.
The 1956 Copyright Act was applied to Hong Kong as from December 12
last year but the new Bill seeks to introduce a number of supplementary
provisions to make the Act fully effective to meet Hong Kong's needs.
The Attorney General explained that the Act obliged the prosecution
to prove that a person charged with possession of an infringing copy of
a work for the purpose of trade, knew that the article was an infringing copy.
"However, copyright infringement is so widespread in Hong Kong
that it is often virtually impossible to prove such knowledge, he said.
Under the new Bill, a person will have to prove that he did not know
that an infringing copy of a work in his possession for the purpose of
trade was an infringing copy.
Mr. Roberts suggested this should not be difficult for an innocent
person to prove.
He added: "It is necessary for us to take vigorous action to stamp
out the trade in pirated records and books which could be so damaging to
our commercial reputation abroad."
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