According to the Copyright Ordinance of HKSAR, (the “ Copyright Ordinance”), copyright subsists in musical sound/visual recordings, such as music videos and/or karaoke videos which are normally embodied in the form of physical objects such as records, tapes, cassettes, compact discs, laser discs and cartridges, etc. It should however be noted that copyright in musical sound/visual recordings, is an entirely separate and independent right from the other copyright works such as musical and/or dramatical and/or literary works from which the musical sound/visual recordings are created. The Copyright of the musical sound/visual recordings is protected by the Copyright Ordinance. Any person who without the licence of the copyright owner does or authorizes another to do any of the restricted acts infringes the copyright which would attract criminal and/or civil liability.
The restricted acts include:
- To copy the work (Section 23);
- To issue copies of the work to the public (Section 24);
- To rent copies of the work to the public (Section 25);
- To make available copies of the work to the public (Section 26);
- To perform, show or play the work in public (Section 27);
- To broadcast the work or include it in a cable programme service(Section 28);
- To make an adaptation of the work or do any of the above in relation to an adaptation (Section 29);
And those other restricted acts as prescribed under the Copyright Ordinance.