Copyright Ordinance - Groundless Threats

Unlike the Patent and Registered Designs Ordinances, there will be no remedy for groundless threats in relation to copyright, save in relation to imports. (The headings of the relevant section refers to 'parallel imports, but, strictly construed, the section has wider application.) This is in contrast to the UK Act, where the carve out extends to manufacture and importation generally. (These 'groundless threats' provisions were a late addition; previously the Administration maintained that the unregistered nature of a copyright and the limited monopoly (i.e. only against copying) which it affords did not justify such remedies.)

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