Parallel with the process of formation of a new bill, the Intellectual
Property Department invited concerned parties, including the HKLA, to work out
some non-statutory guidelines that would facilitate classroom photocopying when
the academic year began in September 2002. The 1st Plenary Meeting on
"Development of Non-statutory Guidelines in Clarifying the Expression
'Reasonable Extent' in the Permitted Acts for Educational Purposes under the
Copyright Ordinance" was held on 2 May 2002. Subsequent to the meeting, a
Working Group was formed to discuss and propose a set of guidelines. HKLA
was a member of the Working Group. From 3 June to 6 September, altogether
7 meetings were held. Notes of these meetings were available at:
http://www.info.gov.hk/ipd/eng/information/guidelines/guidelines.htm
The 2nd Plenary Meeting was held on 20 September where the Working
Group's proposal was discussed. The guidelines were finally announced on 30
September. For details, please refer to:
http://www.info.gov.hk/ipd/eng/iplaws/guide_photocopy/guide_photo.pdf
Generally speaking, this set of guidelines was based on the U.S.
Guidelines for Classroom Copying in Not-For-Profit Educational Institutions with
Respect to Books and Periodicals. To suit the special circumstances of
Hong Kong, those textbooks published in accordance with the local curriculum
were granted additional restrictions in making photocopies. Moreover, the
number of copies which can be made in an academic year is adjusted to reflect
the common use of "academic year" in Hong Kong.
In the case of newspaper photocopying, the U.S. guidelines permit unlimited copying of current news. However, throughout the discussion, the newspaper representatives were reluctant to grant such a privilege. As no consensus is reached, these guidelines do not apply to newspaper photocopying.
From the viewpoint of HKLA, although the guidelines have resolved some of the questions of making multiple copies for classroom use, there still lacks a clear and updated set of guidelines for individual's making photocopies in libraries. Moreover, direct talks with owners of newspapers may be required in order to go beyond the limit set up by the Hong Kong Copyright Licensing Association that represents the newspapers. Although a great deal of time and manpower has been spent on reaching such set of minimal guidelines, HKLA will continue to work with relevant parties to promote the interests of library users.
Please send us your view to hkla@hkla.org
Tommy Yeung
President