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Rampant software piracy in Hong Kong makes it unlikely that the  territory will become a hub for the lucrative digital entertainment industry, according to digital media experts.

At a forum hosted by the Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association yesterday, speakers said Hong Kong could miss its potential to become a world hub for digital entertainment.

Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau deputy secretary Alan Siu Yu-bun and Hong Kong Productivity Council executive director Thomas Tang Koon-yiu were among the speakers.

Mr Tang said: 'We have a thriving local entertainment industry that has proven itself to be world-class time and again. Hong Kong is close to what will become the world's largest consumer market - China and we have an excellent broadband infrastructure.'

The two issues of piracy and education dominated a day that was intended as a forum on using entertainment to drive broadband adoption.

Bird and Bird solicitor Rob Deans said: 'If you are a software content writer selling content to the local market, then yes you have a problem that impacts you. If you are a content writer exporting to a world market then you don't have such a big problem.'

While acknowledging that Hong Kong has strong intellectual property law, Mr Deans said that 'the problem is in enforcing those laws partly because of their very highly technical nature'.

Harry Miller, chief executive of games software firm En-Tranz Entertainment, expressed frustration at a problem that he said blocked Hong Kong's progress as a digital entertainment centre.

'It takes an average of two years to develop a game. Yet, half the games sold in the last year are available in Mongkok going for US$1 a game. Laws are here but they aren't enforced,' he said.

'Why is it so hard? When you have whole stores where their only business is in selling pirated games and software. Why don't they just shut them down? Why is it so hard to stop them?'

Mr Miller was the founder of Gathering of Developers, a computer and video game publisher based in Dallas, Texas, which produced revenues of more than US$50 million in its first three years of business and was last year bought by Take2interactive.

'We are publishing for the US, Japan and European markets. The Hong Kong market is not too small,' Mr Miller said.

'It is growing and it can be a very good market because the broadband infrastructure is very good and it sets the pace for China. But the software piracy problem is really cancelling out the benefit.'

Another Hong Kong digital media company Imagi Production, which is developing a 26-episode animation series called Zentrix, said Hong Kong and China would be the last of its target markets due to rampant software piracy.

Imagi executive director Terry Tse said: 'We are launching in the US, Europe, Japan, Asia-Pacific then Hong Kong and China last.'

Mr Siu said 'that the next item on my agenda is to call my colleagues in customs and see what we can do about enforcement'.

The panel also criticised the Government for failing to foster high-quality graduates in the digital production and media field.

Mr Miller said: 'We get resumes that are really beautiful and we think we've found the right people and then we have interviews and find that what's on paper and what their skills really are, are really different.'

Professor Mark Green, of the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong, said that most students were good at rote learning but unable to handle abstract tasks such as describing a picture.

'There is no policy for collaboration between universities and students do not get credits for attending classes in other universities. So for example, if I want my students to attend music, drama and literature classes at [University of Hong Kong] so it broadens their perspectives and stimulates their creativity. You can't do that,' Professor Green said.
Mr Tang acknowledged that more could be done to promote digital entertainment to students as 'young people are afraid the animation industry will not give them a bright future'.



Software piracy taints HK