I refer to the letter 'Music piracy rampant' (December 15), which commented on a speech by John Tsang Chun-wah, secretary for commerce, industry and technology, to the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Society.
In the speech ('Let's keep the pirates out', December 11), Mr Tsang acknowledged the problem of internet piracy, particularly that of sharing infringing copies of copyright works such as movies and music through peer-to-peer (P2P) networks.
The Copyright Ordinance makes downloading a copyright work for personal use or making available copies of a copyright work on the internet without the licence of the copyright owner a copyright infringement. Copyright owners can seek civil remedies against illegal downloading or uploading activities in the Internet environment.
The Copyright Ordinance also makes it a criminal offence to distribute infringing copies (including on the Internet) to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright. We are considering if any parties involved in sharing infringing copies of copyright works in P2P networks can be regarded as prejudicially distributing the copyright works and, if so, whether and how enforcement action can be taken.
The government is working actively with copyright owners to address the P2P issue. We will step up publicity and public education to enhance awareness of the need to accord to digital copies of copyright works the same level of respect for intellectual property rights.
We have also been discussing with copyright owners and local internet service providers how the piracy problem in P2P networks can be alleviated by working together.
In exploring possible solutions to the Internet piracy problem, we shall need to be careful that we tackle piracy itself rather than interfering unreasonably with digital technology or the infrastructure of the Internet in Hong Kong, so as to maintain Hong Kong's position as an information technology hub.