After months of filibustering, legislation may be abandoned if no vote is reached
The government is set to give up its second bid to update the legal protection of intellectualproperties for the digital age - leaving the copyright industry up in arms and oppositionlegislators feeling the political heat.
The Copyright Alliance issued a statement saying they were stunned after Secretary forCommerce and Economic Development Gregory So Kam-leung announced on Thursday thatthe Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2014 would be set aside if the Legislative Council cannot voteon it next Wednesday.
The LegCo meeting will resume next week in a "full committee" session to scrutinize theamendments. The government cannot directly remove the bill, but may reassign the order ofitems on the agenda. Lawmakers may also initiate a motion at any time to adjourn the debate.
A government spokesperson later confirmed the decision was made after the LegCo meetingabruptly ended on Wednesday. This was due to a headcount mishap triggered by theopposition camp's call for a quorum. Gregory So condemned opposition lawmakers for stallingthe progress for personal gains.
Opposition members in LegCo have been engaging in filibustering as opposition to thecopyright bill intensified among Internet users in late November. The bill reading has regularlyattracted protests outside LegCo.
Ex-legislator Ronny Tong Ka-wah slammed his former opposition allies for exposing themselvesto manipulation by netizen groups.
Wong Kwok-kin of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions thinks his oppositioncounterparts chose the wrong side when the copyright battle erupted last fall.
"They wanted to please radical netizens, fearing a smear campaign will jeopardize their imageand cost them election votes," he said. But campaigning ahead of this Sunday's by-electionshowed their efforts had not paid off. Mainstream opposition still fell victim to attacks by theradicals.
Peter K. Yu, co-director at US-based Texas A&M University's Center for Law and IntellectualProperty, told China Daily he understood the government was working on a new proposal onlimited fair use. He was surprised industry stakeholders would rather lose the bill than considera concession.
"(Perhaps) if they do not get the new benefits - for example, provisions that would allow them tocollect more royalties from Internet intermediaries - the bill is not worth it after all," the adviserto netizen groups wrote in an e-mail reply. The industry's attitude also reminded him of theapproach it takes to negotiating with authors and musicians.
The new proposal was discussed at a talk held last week. Both Wong and New People Party'sMichael Tien Puk-sun lamented that the dialogue happened too late for an outcome. Tien saidthe matter was too politicized at the moment and that it was impossible for either side to shakeoff their prejudices.
Tien hoped all sides would resume talks immediately. Yu advised that the negotiation shouldfocus on solutions to separate individual users from third-party Internet intermediaries - or newattempts to impose better control over set-top boxes will fail again.

Source: China Daily