Generally, with a Creative Commons licence, public users of a website are allowed to use the website’s photos and images freely. If you are a publisher or blogger and you use a website’s images, you may think that you are using them correctly. However, you may be unaware of some possible infringements that you might … Read more
Generally, if someone has obtained a Creative Commons licence for their work, you can use their work. However, the extent to which you can use the work will depend on the type of licence that the author holds. For details about the various types of Creative Commons licences available in Hong Kong, you may read … Read more
In Hong Kong, if you have a Creative Commons licence, your moral rights will not be affected. All Creative Commons licences preserve moral rights but allow others to use the work in ways intended by the licence that might otherwise infringe moral rights. If you have obtained a 4.0 licence for your material, it means … Read more
A Creative Commons licence is a public copyright licence that enables free distribution of a copyrighted work. It is usually used by an author to give others the right to use, share and build upon a work created by the author. A Creative Commons licence can provide flexibility to an author (e.g. choosing to only … Read more
A licence of copyright and an assignment of copyright are different in several ways: Licence of Copyright Assignment of Copyright Definition A licence by which a copyright holder (“licensor”) can give additional copyright permissions to anyone or everyone (“licensee”) in the public. An assignment allows a copyright holder (“assignor”) to transfer their copyright ownership to … Read more
If you have created a work in Hong Kong and the other country concerned is also a member of an international copyright treaty, convention or organisation to which Hong Kong belongs, your work will also be protected by copyright in that country. These treaties, conventions and organisations include: The Berne Convention for the Protection of … Read more
If you see material that you want to use, you should be aware of the possibility that it is protected by copyright. Hence, before you use it, you should find out who the owner is to get permission to use their work. Without permission, the owner may bring an infringement action against you. If the … Read more
A copyright notice is a statement placed on the work (for instance on a website) for the purpose of informing the public that you are the owner of the work and it should not be used without your permission. A copyright notice consists of three parts that generally appear as a single continuous statement: The … Read more
Generally, the period of copyright protection lasts until 50 years after the work’s creator passes away. However, there are some minor differences to this general rule depending on the type of work. Nevertheless, your copyright will expire on the 31st of December of the last calendar year of the period of protection. Specific duration of … Read more
If you have created a piece of work and the work is protected by the Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528), you will be entitled to two types of rights: Economic rights Moral rights Economic rights You are allowed to receive financial reward from others for using your work (e.g. via collective management) as well as prevent … Read more