Hong Kong Ordinances

COPYRIGHT ORDINANCE - SECT 38

Research and private study

Caution: This is a past version. See the current version here.

General

(1) Fair dealing with a work of any description for the purposes of research
or private study does not infringe any copyright in the work or, in the case
of a published edition, in the typographical arrangement.

(2) Copying by a person other than the researcher or student himself is not
fair dealing if-

   (a)  in the case of a librarian, or a person acting on behalf of a
        librarian, he does anything which regulations under section 49 would
        not permit to be done under section 47 or 48 (articles or parts of
        published works: restriction on multiple copies of same material); or

   (b)  in any other case, the person doing the copying knows or has reason to
        believe that it will result in copies of substantially the same
        material being provided to more than one person at substantially the
        same time and for substantially the same purpose.

(3) In determining whether any dealing with a work of any description is fair
dealing, the factors to be considered include-

   (a)  the purpose and nature of the dealing;

   (b)  the nature of the work; and

   (c)  the amount and substantiality of the portion dealt with in relation to
        the work as a whole. [ cf. 1988 c. 48 s. 29 U.K.]