AI exceptions set for copyright laws

Michael Shum

The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau is proposing to introduce text and data mining exceptions in the SAR's copyright laws to enhance protections for artificial intelligence technology development.

In a Legislative Council commerce, industry, innovation and technology panel meeting, Undersecretary for Commerce and Economic Development Bernard Chan Pak-li said 62 written submissions were received during the consultation period.

Except for copyright owners, most respondents - including the innovation and tech industry, intellectual property practitioners' groups, the legal sector, chambers of commerce and industry bodies, support bringing in the exceptions.

The exception will allow reasonable use of copyright works for computational data analysis and processing and be subject to restrictive conditions to comply with the international standard of the "three-step test" and to balance the interests between copyright owners and users.

"There is a practical need for the proposed exception to cover both non-commercial and commercial uses. We consider this inclusive approach is more in line with market needs, thus enabling the exception to achieve maximum benefits," the bureau said. "This is also consistent with the practices in some jurisdictions like the European Union, Japan and Singapore."

Legco member Kenneth Fok Kai-kong said the education and publication sector is very concerned about the law amendment. "The sector is expecting the introduction of an 'opt-in' mechanism, requiring data miners to obtain copyright approval first."

Director of Intellectual Property David Wong Fuk-loi said he understands industry doubts but thinks the proposal can protect the needs of AI developers.

"It is the copyright holders' responsibility to protect their own rights, they can file civil claims," Wong said.

Duncan Chiu said "if copyright owners do not want their text analyzed by AI, but their text can still be searched online, does that mean they have done a bad job?"

Liberal Party lawmaker Peter Shiu Ka-fai cast doubts on the ability of AI to distinguish infringing copies.

Chan said there are a lot of reverse image search functions in the market, with AI searching keywords to verify these copies to see if they are being used by other AI models.