Macau Copyright Vote Could Come “This Month”
28 August 2012
File sharers need not fear being sentenced to a jail term in Macau after the third standing committee of the Legislative Assembly accepted the Government’s latest draft on the Special Administrative Region’s copyright law.
The latest version of the bill prepared by the Economic Services Bureau (DSE) does provide for up to a two-year prison for people who share copyrightprotected files over the internet, but only when they do so for commercial purpose or “with the intent of receiving an illegal benefit,” according to news reports in Macau.
Lawmakers had previously wanted to make sharing files without the copyright owner’s permission an infringement in itself, with increased penalties should the sharer profit from the action. But government representatives, including DSE director Sou Tim Peng, said that such a definition would be too broad.
“The main issue is whether to softer or tougher on copyright infringements,” committee president Cheang Chi Keong told journalists. “It may look like a technical issue but in fact it’s more of a political issue,” he said.
Cheang told journalists in February that the Administration had noted “the need to follow the example of other more advanced jurisdictions. The goal is to provide more protection for authors but without causing the population to, even unconsciously, fall victim of this law.”
Macau’s existing copyright law dates to 1999, but the Government is working to update the law by extending protection to internet and digital technology. Cheang said that the Legislative Assembly’s legal advisors are already drafting the committee’s opinion. “I believe the law might be sent to voting by the end of this month,” he said.
