06-11-2004, 04:52 PM
Here?s the summary of facts as to the best of my knowledge.
Copyright treaty of 1996 at Berne Convention is a part of World Trade Organization (WTO). Indeed, Hong Kong did not sign the treaty back then. However, the issue became irrelevant as Hong Kong was annexed into China in 1997 and is covered under China?s copyright law. When China was allowed to enter WTO in 2001, one of the conditions was to sign the treaty and update its copyright law to international standards, which China complied.
This means that Hong Kong copyright law is also under the jurisdiction of China?s copyright law as governed by international copyright standard. The law is in place. However, the enforcement is another matter. China has been under growing pressure from other countries to better-enforce the law, which means that it at least has to put up an appearance that it is trying so. As a consequence, MAC gets raided once a while. I read somehwere that even Hong Kong became too uncomfortable for MAC that they eventually moved their production plant out of HK. I guess that HK police does not bother MI too much because MI is a legitimate company and makes some official R3 titles.
Copyright treaty of 1996 at Berne Convention is a part of World Trade Organization (WTO). Indeed, Hong Kong did not sign the treaty back then. However, the issue became irrelevant as Hong Kong was annexed into China in 1997 and is covered under China?s copyright law. When China was allowed to enter WTO in 2001, one of the conditions was to sign the treaty and update its copyright law to international standards, which China complied.
This means that Hong Kong copyright law is also under the jurisdiction of China?s copyright law as governed by international copyright standard. The law is in place. However, the enforcement is another matter. China has been under growing pressure from other countries to better-enforce the law, which means that it at least has to put up an appearance that it is trying so. As a consequence, MAC gets raided once a while. I read somehwere that even Hong Kong became too uncomfortable for MAC that they eventually moved their production plant out of HK. I guess that HK police does not bother MI too much because MI is a legitimate company and makes some official R3 titles.