Hong Kong in collaboration with Japan and South Korea to fight IP violations
Hong Kong Customs has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) in Japan and the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association (COA) in South Korea in the wake of the IP infringement contents of these 3 countries are currently at large in the Asia region.
Nowadays, with the overcovering of the Internet worldwide, the people from one jurisdiction are not limited to the contents of that jurisdiction anymore. Rather, one user from one country will be exposed to multiple contents from other countries.
This is great to enhance the connection of countries and their people, contributing to the creation of a harmonious world where boundaries amongst countries are blurred, but not so much in terms of IP protection against infringements.
As the contents of giving countries such as Japan and South Korea can’t be dealt with effectively by the receiving end like Hong Kong and more importantly, alone, it’s best that there is some kind of agreement between nations to bolster the IP enforcement.
Hong Kong works with Japan and South Korea to fight IP violations
The signing of the Memorandum between the 3 countries on the matter of IP detection and infringement prevention took place on April 26, 2022, on the celebration of World Intellectual Property Day.
Mark Woo, the assistant commissioner of customs and excise (intelligence and investigation) of Hong Kong Customs, signed the MoU with Takero Goto, representative director of the CODA, and Itae Choi, executive director of the COA.
Woo expressed his high expectancy for the collaboration with Japan and South Korea, stating in the video conference: “In addition to law enforcement, Hong Kong Customs has attached great importance to maintaining close cooperation with copyright and trademark owners in promoting IP rights education, especially among the younger generation.”
According to Woo, this MoU also marks a momentous milestone between Hong Kong Customs and the IP rights sector, detailing the two’s close connection in the goal of battling IP infringements.
Contents of the MoU
Following Hong Kong Customs’s official notice, the MoU of Hong Kong Customs with CODA and COA will project to have changes in 5 following major areas:
- to provide assistance for criminal investigation and prosecution against IPR infringing activities by arranging experts and witnesses for seizure identification and giving evidence in court;
- to provide mutual training, such as product identification workshops and experience sharing on court proceedings;
- to raise awareness of IPR protection among the young generation through publicity events;
- to enhance information exchange on IPR crimes;
- to set up a reward scheme for encouraging the public to provide useful information to assist Hong Kong Customs in taking enforcement actions against infringing activities.
One of the most important changes will be the cross-sector support, meaning that the cyber IP rights crimes that have been raging in Hong Kong will be tackled effectively with the cooperation of the 3 organizations.
With this foundation established, IP protection in Hong Kong in particular and in the Asia region, in general, will be enhanced greatly.
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