LW4641 Intellectual Property: Theory, Copyright, and Design

How LW4641 is assessed

The first lecture for this offering lists three assessment lines totalling 100%. Participation and the group presentation appear together as one 20% line, made up of 5% for contributions to class discussions and 15% for the presentation, and this guide shows the two parts separately. The group research report is worth 10% and the final exam 70%. The exam is two hours and open book, with printed materials allowed and no internet access; it contains one case-based question worth 70% of the paper and one of three theoretical policy questions worth 30%. Its date is listed as to be announced. A formative essay is also offered but does not count towards the final grade. Confirm the current arrangements, including the exam date, on Canvas.

Current LW4641 dates

Dates are as published in the class schedule and assessment section published in the first lecture for this offering. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.

What LW4641 covers

Eleven chapters follow the published lecture sequence from the justifications for intellectual property through subsistence, infringement, permitted acts, moral rights, performers' rights and remedies to the overlap with design and registered designs.

It is taught as both theory and practice: the theories that justify the doctrines, the statute and case law in Hong Kong, the ability to give a professional opinion on how copyright and design rights operate in real life, and an understanding of how artificial intelligence is challenging, and may reshape, the central doctrines of copyright.

The final paper tests all of this with one problem question and one policy question, so every chapter here ends in something you can apply.

Why Intellectual Property Is Granted

The opening chapter separates the content from the vehicle, sets copyright beside trade marks, patents and trade secrets, and works through the three justifications taught in the first lecture: the utilitarian incentive argument and its evidence problem, Locke's labour theory with its proviso, and personality theory.

It closes with the argument that efficiency is a midlevel principle and that midlevel principles shape doctrine in practice.

Copyright Origins, Hong Kong Law and the Treaties

Copyright began as a printers' privilege and became an author's right with the Statute of Anne.

The chapter explains why continental and American copyright diverged, how the UK Act of 1956 governed Hong Kong until the Copyright Ordinance took effect on 27 June 1997, why the Basic Law lets Hong Kong set its own policy, and what the Berne, Rome, TRIPS and WIPO instruments each added.

Protected Works and the Closed List

Hong Kong protects only the descriptions of work its Ordinance names.

The chapter shows how much room the drafting leaves through the difference between means and includes, why an elaborately staged photo shoot was not protected as any kind of work, and why some commentators prefer to leave new categories to the legislature rather than the courts.

Originality and the Idea and Expression Divide

Authorial works must be original, and the reading list builds the standard from cases on betting coupons, invented words and redrawn designs.

The second half of the chapter explains why ideas stay free, how merger and stock scenes limit protection, and how courts in the United States and the United Kingdom compared plots, themes and characters.

Authorship and AI Generated Content

No court has accepted a work made entirely without a human author, so the question is how much human control is enough.

The chapter follows the three positions used in United States registration practice, contrasts a Beijing decision, and explains Hong Kong's own computer-generated works rule, which names the person who made the arrangements for the work's creation.

Restricted Acts and Infringement

Every problem question follows the same three stages: subsistence, infringement and defences.

This chapter lays out the restricted acts from copying to adaptation, the technology neutral communication right introduced by the 2022 reforms, and the secondary infringements that catch importers, sellers and those who supply premises or apparatus, all of which turn on knowledge.

Fair Dealing and the Permitted Acts

A permitted act is a defence to infringement, not a right of the user.

The chapter works through research and private study, criticism and review, quotation, news reporting, parody and incidental inclusion, with the conditions each one carries and the four factors that decide fairness, and then turns to contract override and proposals for a text and data mining exception.

Moral Rights of Authors and Directors

Three personal rights protect the creator's name and the integrity of the work: identification, which must be asserted, the right against false attribution, and the right to object to derogatory treatment, which needs prejudice to honour or reputation.

The chapter also covers duration, written waiver and what happens on death.

Performers' Rights, Remedies and Enforcement

Performers hold consent rights over the first recording of a live performance, economic rights over a recording made with consent, and moral rights of their own.

The chapter then sets out the civil remedies, the interim orders developed by Hong Kong courts, and the criminal offences for dealing in infringing copies.

Where Copyright Meets Design

A manufactured product can be protected by copyright directly, as a sculpture, engraving or work of artistic craftsmanship, or indirectly through the drawings behind it.

The Ordinance then trims that protection once the design is exploited industrially, to twenty-five years if registered and fifteen if not.

Registered Designs and Registrability

Hong Kong has run its own Designs Registry since 1997. The last chapter takes the statutory definition apart as an ordered test, covering shape and pattern, the meaning of article and the spare parts problem, eye appeal, and the two exclusions for functional and must-match features.

How to use this guide

Read the front matter first, then work one chapter at a time and write your own answer to each practice item before reading ours.

The practice chapter works a full problem question and plans a policy answer, and the closing chapter is a revision pass for the morning of the exam.

Evidence and assessment control

Assessment components and weights follow the first lecture for Semester A, 2026/27, the published offering this guide describes.

Teaching explanations, worked examples and practice items are independently authored and are not University assessment material; any marks shown on them are an AskSia study allocation. The exam date is listed as to be announced, so check Canvas for it and for any update to the assessment arrangements.

Worked example · free

Sort a manufactured product through copyright and design

Key terms

Closed List

A system that protects only the descriptions of work named in the statute, so material fitting none of them is unprotected however creative it is. Hong Kong follows this model.

Corresponding Design

A design which, applied to an article, would produce a copy of an artistic work. Once such a design is exploited industrially, s87 shortens the copyright in making those articles.

Restricted Act

An act only the copyright owner may do or authorise, such as copying, issuing copies, communicating the work to the public or making an adaptation.

Secondary Infringement

Liability for importing, dealing in or facilitating infringing copies, which requires that the defendant knew or had reason to believe the copies were infringing.

Fair Dealing

The requirement, applied within each listed permitted purpose, that a use be fair in all the circumstances, judged by purpose, the nature of the work, the amount taken and the effect on the market.

Sufficient Acknowledgement

An indication that tells a reasonably alert member of the audience who the author is; required for criticism, review, quotation and most news reporting.

Derogatory Treatment

An addition to, deletion from, alteration to or adaptation of a work that distorts or mutilates it or otherwise prejudices the author's honour or reputation.

Qualifying Performance

A performance given by an individual domiciled or resident in, or with a right of abode in, Hong Kong or elsewhere, which attracts performers' rights.

Eye Appeal

The quality a registrable design must have: features that attract the prospective customer and are assessed by eye, taking the design as a whole.

LW4641 FAQ

Questions students ask in each LW4641 chapter

Why is intellectual property called an artificial right?

Because it exists only because the law creates it for policy reasons, rather than arising from possession of a physical thing. The lecture links this to its limits: the rights are territorial, time-limited and shaped by public policy, which is why a policy question can ask whether a right should exist at all. Chapter 01 · Why Intellectual Property Is Granted

When did Hong Kong's current copyright law come into force?

The Copyright Ordinance, Cap 528, came into effect on 27 June 1997 and is based mainly on the UK's Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. Before that date the UK Copyright Act 1956 extended to Hong Kong, and it still governs questions such as who first owned a work created earlier. Chapter 02 · Copyright Origins, Hong Kong Law and the Treaties

Why does Hong Kong use a closed list of protected works?

Because the Copyright Ordinance names the descriptions of work that can be protected and anything outside them is excluded. The course materials defend this on grounds of certainty and democratic legitimacy, while noting that the mix of means and includes in the definitions still leaves room for argument at the edges. Chapter 03 · Protected Works and the Closed List

What is the originality standard in Hong Kong?

The reading list builds it from the UK skill and labour cases, with Tai Shing Dairy v Maersk listed for Hong Kong under sweat of the brow. A work must come from the author and reflect enough independent skill or judgment; effort spent only in copying, as Interlego shows, is not enough. Chapter 04 · Originality and the Idea and Expression Divide

Is an image made with an AI tool protected by copyright in Hong Kong?

It may be. Section 11(3) of the Copyright Ordinance treats the person who made the arrangements for a computer-generated work as its author, and the government consultation took the view that AI output falls within that rule. The work still has to be original, which is where critics say the provision struggles. Chapter 05 · Authorship and AI Generated Content

What is the difference between primary and secondary infringement?

Primary infringement is doing a restricted act without licence, such as copying a work or putting it before the public electronically, and knowledge is irrelevant. Secondary infringement covers dealing with infringing copies or facilitating infringement, such as importing, selling or supplying apparatus, and it requires proof that the defendant knew or had reason to believe. Chapter 06 · Restricted Acts and Infringement

Does Hong Kong have fair use like the United States?

No. Hong Kong uses fair dealing, which only applies to purposes the Ordinance lists, such as research and private study, criticism and review, quotation, news reporting and parody. Within those purposes fairness is judged on all the circumstances and four factors, while United States cases on transformative use are set for reference only. Chapter 07 · Fair Dealing and the Permitted Acts

Can I sell my moral rights with my copyright?

No. Moral rights cannot be assigned, so they stay with you after a sale of copyright. They can, however, be waived by a signed written instrument, and a waiver in favour of the copyright owner is presumed to extend to its licensees and successors unless a contrary intention is expressed. Chapter 08 · Moral Rights of Authors and Directors

Do performers in Hong Kong own copyright in their performances?

Not copyright as such. Part 3 of the Copyright Ordinance gives performers related rights: consent over the first recording and live communication of their performances, economic rights over authorised recordings, and moral rights to be identified and to object to derogatory treatment of their performances. Chapter 09 · Performers' Rights, Remedies and Enforcement

Can a product design be protected by copyright in Hong Kong?

Yes, in two ways. The product itself may be an artistic work, such as a sculpture, an engraving or a work of artistic craftsmanship, and the drawings it was made from are graphic works protected irrespective of artistic quality. Once the design is exploited industrially, however, s87 shortens the copyright in making such articles. Chapter 10 · Where Copyright Meets Design

What can be registered as a design in Hong Kong?

Shape, configuration, pattern or ornament put onto an article industrially, which in the finished product attracts the eye and is assessed by it. Methods of construction, features dictated solely by function and features that must match another article are excluded, and the design must also be new, owned by the applicant and free of conflict with earlier rights. Chapter 11 · Registered Designs and Registrability

How to study for the exam

Build an index to your printed notes arranged by the three stages of an infringement answer, then test it: take any practice problem, set a timer, and see how quickly you can put your finger on the section and the case each issue needs. In an open-book exam that speed is worth more than another reading of the lecture slides, because it is time you can spend on application.

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