Hong Kong seeks changes to copyright law to bolster AI development
- Authorities hope to modernise law to keep pace with latest AI developments as city aims to become regional IP trading centre
Hong Kong is seeking views on ways to enhance the copyright law to protect artificial intelligence (AI) development, including the need to allow the specific use of online copyrighted content processed with the technology, as part of a two-month consultation launched by authorities.
Authorities hope to modernise the Copyright Ordinance to keep pace with the latest AI developments as the city aims to become a regional intellectual property (IP) trading centre.
A spokesman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said the rapid advancement of AI technology, particularly generative AI, had led to “revolutionary” impacts on a range of fields and industries, while also giving rise to a number of copyright concerns.
“The copyright regime is an important part of the [IP] regime,” he said. “On one hand, it protects the economic rights of creators … and on the other hand, it properly balances the legitimate interests of copyright owners and the public interest.
“Continuously enhancing the local copyright regime is one of the key policies to develop Hong Kong into a regional IP trading centre as set out in the national 14th five-year plan.”
Topics covered by the 52-page consultation document released on Monday included copyright protection for AI-generated works, copyright infringement liability for such works and the possible introduction of specific copyright exceptions.
