The copyright conundrum

Shops stocked with pirated CDs, VCDs and CD-ROMs may be far less common on the streets of Hong Kong, given statistics from the Customs and Excise Department (CED) that point to a significant drop in their number. But a more clandestine trade in fake items may still be thriving.

Many of the items could be made right here, in the SAR. Customs officers, for instance, smashed a large-scale pirated disc syndicate at a remote factory in Lau Fau Shan, Yuen Long, in September, confiscating $48 million worth of discs. Among them were copies of Hollywood films not yet released in Hong Kong at the time, such as Lake Placid, Sixth Sense, Summer Of Sam and Mystery Men.

Lately Customs officers have spotted a new trend - pirated discs being distributed to local customers through mail-order or orders via shops on the Internet.

The SAR was struck off a US anti-piracy watchlist early last year as a result of increased anti-piracy measures here. The setting up of a special task force within the CED last year led to a doubling of the number of piracy cases detected over 1997. And last month, the Commissioner of Customs and Excise John Tsang Chun-wah told an International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) gathering in London that the number of retail shops had plunged to about 100 from a high of 800 to 1,000 early last year.

With the success of the clamp-down on the retail front, more attention is being paid to manufacturers of pirated goods. And a proposal to include piracy offences under the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance (OSCO), due to be voted on by legislators tomorrow, will raise the stakes faced by manufacturers of pirated copies. They will be liable for heavier penalties, such as a maximum fine of $50,000 for each seized disc on top of a jail sentence, and confiscation of assets.

The legislation is certain to be passed. But will it solve the perennial problem? And, is it fair to legitimate manufacturers who find it difficult to verify the origin of their orders? There is no doubting Hong Kong's production capability in a lucrative industry that has experienced a rapid growth in the last few years. Total investment in the industry runs into billions of dollars, thanks largely to hi-tech production machines that are intended for 24-hour use.