Hong Kong's Department of Commerce, Industry and Technology proposed on Thursday to amend copyright ordinance to stop rampant copyrights offense.

During his inquiry to the Legislative Council, Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology Joseph Wong proposed to list frequent and significant making and distribution of infringing copies of newspapers, magazines, periodicals and books as a criminal offense.

"It has been our aim to provide Hong Kong with a strong copyright protection system to aid the development of a knowledge- based economy and creative industries," he said. "We need to ensure the proposed amendments will meet the reasonable demands of both sides to the greatest extent possible."

Wong said the proposals had taken into account recent social and technological developments and requests from both owners and users of copyright works.

The existing scope of the business end-user possession criminal liability will be maintained to cover four categories of works, namely computer programs, movies, television dramas and musical recordings, according to the proposals.

If a body corporate or a partnership has acted in such a way as to cause the business end-user's criminal liability, the directors or partners responsible for the company's internal management will be liable unless there is evidence showing they have not authorized the infringing act, according to the proposals.

The department also proposed to shorten the criminal liability period from the existing 18 months to nine months for parallel imports and amendments will be made to increase effectiveness and efficiency in the enforcement of the law and the operation of the Copyright Tribunal.

The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2006, which will be gazetted on Friday, will be tabled at the Legislative Council on March 29.

Source: Xinhua