Copyright in Education (Student version)
Chan：Ming’s composition, “Mother is the Only Best in the World”, is touching and true to life.
You classmates should take him as an example!
Lai：Miss?
Chan：Yes, Lei!
Lai：I suggest making photocopies of Ming’s composition for our reference.
Chan：Good suggestion! Will other classmates agree? Yet, we have to ask the copyright owner
for his permission first! Ming, do you agree on photocopying your composition for
other classmates’ reference?
Ming： No problem, but am I the copyright owner? Even copyright subsists in a composition?
Chui：Indeed, Ming needs not feel puzzled, because you actually are the copyright owner!
Tong：Yes, no matter whether it is a piece of student’s composition, or a work of literature; any
original piece of work is protected by copyright.
Chui：Copyright protects the expression of ideas, but not the ideas themselves.
For instance,
you have created a new dish. The way of making is an “idea.”
Chui VO：You can put down in writing, make sound or video recording, make drawings or take
photographs to illustrate how to prepare the dish.
By doing so, copyright law protects
your written explanation, or sound or video recording, or drawings or photographs.
Tong：The written expression of an idea is called a “work” in copyright law. Here are
examples of “works” which are protected by copyright.
Chui：Anyone who copies the work, issues copies to the public, performs the works in public,
shows or plays the works or makes an adaptation without the copyright owner’s
permission is infringing the law; he may be subject to civil and even criminal liability.
Chui：Newly amended Copyright Ordinance has come into operation since July 2007.
Among the amendments is the extension of copyright exemptions so that teachers and
students could use copyright works in a more flexible manner for teaching and learning
purposes..
Tong：Among other changes, “fair dealing” is introduced as a new exemption. It allows
teachers or students to use or deal with reasonable portions of copyright works in a fair
manner for teaching and learning in a specified course of study.
Chui：What is “a specified course of study” then? (VO) It is a course that is developed on the
basis of curriculum guidelines endorsed by the Curriculum Development Council; or a
course that consists of an assessment of a student’s ability and skills that leads to an
award of qualification.
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Tong VO：To decide whether an act of dealing is “fair” or not, the factors you need to consider
include:
 the purpose and nature of the dealing, including whether such dealing is for non-profit
making purpose or of a commercial nature;
 the nature of the work;
 the amount and substantiality of the portion dealt with in relation to the work as a
whole; and
 the effect of the dealing on the potential market for or value of the work.
Yan：This time the project title is “History of Temple Street” How do we do the project as
Temple Street has such a long history?
Lai：That’s right. All I know is “Gourmet in Temple Street”.
On：Yes, I remember the dessert and Hot Pot Rice in Temple Street!
Ming：Don’t fool around, let’s start to search from the web!
All：Alright.
Ming：Hey, I have finished my part!
On：So fast? Which part did you do?
Ming：I took care of the part of the 80’s to 90’s.
On：It’s so comprehensive! It is also very detailed.
Ming：Of course!
On：But Ming, how could you get so much information in such a short period of time and still
you could manage to present it in such a detailed article?
Ming：Ha, in fact I just found an article about the history of Temple Street from the web.
This article is some tens of pages long, so all I need to do is to copy the whole thing to
my own file!
On：What? Does it have my part also?
Ming：Of course! Feel free to use it!
On：Cool!
*** *** ***
Lai：Yan, check this out! This website has a lot of nice photos of Temple Street!
Yan：Really cool! So why don’t we just put them into our report?
Lai：What? Can we do that?
Yan：Of course we can! Everything on the web is free to use, isn’t it?
Lai：But shall we acknowledge the source?
Yan：Just pretend we took these photos! It makes the whole report look better and we will
have higher score!
Lai：That’s right!
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Tong：Is everything on the Internet free to use?
Chui：Of course not! Every piece of work on the Internet is protected by copyright! The
copyright of the photos or the text on websites might belong to the creators or website
owners.
Chui VO：In the case, the students directly copied the text and the photos from the websites
onto their project without the consent of the copyright owners. Since the students used a
large portion of the contents of a work from the websites and they did not acknowledge
the sources, their dealing with the copyright work was unlikely to be considered fair and
might constitute copyright infringement.
Tong：What would be “fair dealing” in this case?
Chui：For instance, the students can just take small portion of copyright works to explain some
important points of their project and also, they must acknowledge the sources of the
copied materials. Then, that could be considered as “fair dealing.”
On: May I borrow your book? Thank you!
Ching：On, what are you photocopying? So many books?
On：None of your business!
Ching：They are all the same Chinese textbook! Why didn’t you just take one to photocopy?
On：Because I abide by the law!
Ching：Abide by the law?
On：Because the textbook is too expensive, my family told me to photocopy the whole book!
Yet I know that the copyright law does not allow us to copy the whole book. So I asked
different people to lend me the same book for photocopying. If I copy ten pages in each
book and not all pages from the same book, I will not infringe the copyright.
Ching：What?!
Tong：So did On infringe copyright?
First, On borrowed many copies of the same
textbook for photocopying, and in fact there is no difference from making photocopies
out of a single copy.
Chui：We may consider if that is “fair dealing”. Since On copied the whole book, if everyone
does the same thing, it will seriously affect the sales of the textbook. What On did could
not be within the “fair dealing” exemption. He might have infringed copyright.
Ming：Mr. Leung, here is our project and the title is “Did Zheng He discover the New World
earlier than Columbus?”
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Ming：And our conclusion is that the theory of Zheng He’s discovering the New World is not
supported by any solid evidence.
Lai：For instance, the conclusion of this research report in my hands challenges the argument
of Zheng He’s discovering the New World.
Leung：How did you get this article?
Yan：This article came from a research report. The report has more than a hundred pages, so
we just took the chapter of conclusion as the conclusion of our project.
Leung：Hmmm…
Tong：Did the students infringe copyright?
Chui：To determine whether it is “fair dealing” or not, one of the considerations is the amount
and substantiality of the portion being dealt with. （VO）In the case, the conclusion was
the most essential part of the research report. Although the number of pages was not
large, in relation to the whole work, the portion dealt with was highly essential. In another
perspective, the students did not add any of their own views into the project at all, and
their dealing with the report was solely for the purpose of copying!
Tong：Having considered all the circumstances, the students did not fairly deal with the
copyright work, thus infringing others’copyright.
Chui：As the circumstances of dealing with a copyright work vary from case to case when
using the copyright work, we need to consider all the circumstances in order to decide
whether the act of dealing with the work is “fair”, so as to avoid copyright infringement.
Tong：So besides the principles of “fair dealing” that we just discussed, in fact, the Copyright
Ordinance has another provision which concerns reprographic copying.
Chui：Yes, the newly amended Ordinance now allows not only teachers but also students to
make reprographic copies of literary, dramatic, artistic or musical works to a reasonable
extent for teaching and learning purposes in a specified course of study, for examples by
scanning and photocopying a work.
Wong：Class, I have finished teaching the book “The Sound of Music”.
I plan to spend two
weeks to help you practise your English in the form of a drama. On Monday after two
weeks from now we will have our final rehearsal. We will also arrange parents to come
and observe our classroom teaching. All of you should learn the script by heart and pay
attention to your pronunciation!
On：Wow, it would be of great fun!
Wong：“The Sound of Music” has its own original soundtrack, and we will need to play it
during rehearsals. So Lei, would you please get the CD for us?
Lai：Sure, no problem!
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On：Miss Wong！
Wong：Yes！
On：My parents will not be available for that day. May I ask another one to come?
Wong：You could ask your near relatives or guardians to come.
On：Could I ask my private tutor to come and observe the classroom teaching?
Wong：Eeeeh…
Tong：All along, there have been rules in Copyright Ordinance for performances taking place
at an educational establishment.
Chui：Yes. It permits performance of a literary, dramatic or musical work by teachers or
students, or by any other person for teaching purposes.
In addition, it also permits an
educational establishment to play a sound recording, film, broadcast or cable programme
for teaching purposes.
Tong：Yet, the amended Ordinance has extended the scope of the audience.
The audience can
now consist wholly or mainly of teachers, students, parents or guardians of the students
and other persons directly connected with the activities of the educational establishment.
For example, near relatives of students may accompany the students to attend school
activities in the place of their parents or guardians. The audience may also include
School Management Committee members.
Chui：In the case, since the audience of the performance are mainly teachers, students, parents
or guardians of the students, and the tutor whom On wanted to invite was merely a little
part of the whole audience, Miss Wong might permit On’s tutor to attend.
Tong：However, an educational establishment cannot rely on this exemption if it organises an
activity which is open to all the friends and relatives of its students or to the general
public. Instead, a license should be obtained in advance for the public performance to
take place.
Chui：I believe everyone who has watched this video should have more understanding about
the amended Copyright Ordinance.
(VO) If you want to obtain more information about
copyright, you can visit the website of the Intellectual Property Department.
Tong：Finally, we hope that all teachers and students will make reasonable and fair use of
copyright works in appropriate circumstances.
Chui、Tong：Bye Bye！
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