Economic Rights of Copyright Owners

Copyright owners generally have the right to authorise or prohibit any of the following things in relation to their works. The Copyright Ordinance refers as 'restricted acts':

1. copying the work in any way. For example, photocopying, reproducing a printed page by handwriting, typing or scanning into a computer, and taping live or recorded music are all forms of copying

2. issuing copies of the work to the public. However, once a copy has legally been put into circulation anywhere in Hong Kong, this right cannot be used to prevent further sale of that copy, although rental and lending of computer program or sounding recording can still be controlled by the copyright owner

3. renting or lending copies of the work to the public, in case they are computer program or sound recordings

4. performing, showing or playing the work in public. Obvious examples are performing plays, playing sound recordings and showing films or videos in public. But this right also includes public delivery of lectures, speeches and the like, and letting a broadcast be seen or heard in public also involves performance of music and other copyright material contained in the broadcast

5. broadcasting the work or including it in a cable programme service i.e. cable television programmes

6. making an adaptation of the work, such as by translating a literary or dramatic work, transcribing a musical work and

7. converting a computer program into a different computer language or code

Copyright is infringed when any of the above acts are done without authorisation, whether directly or indirectly and whether the whole or a substantial part of a work, unless what is done falls within the scope of exceptions to copyright permitting certain minor uses of material.