Dr. Charn-wing Wan

The Political Economy of Digital Copyright in Hong Kong Sar: from a New Institutional Economics Perspective Dr. Charn-wing Wan

This book examines the major problems in the current digital copyright reform in the context of digitalization, free-market economy and globalization by adopting approach of political economy to examine the historical forces of economic and political institutions which have shaped and determined the evolutionary path of the neo-liberal digital copyright policy regime of Hong Kong since the resumption of sovereignty of Hong Kong by China in 1997. The study covers the period from the Hong Kong's own enactment of its copyright law in 1997 to the government's proposals on the protection of copyright in digital environment in April 2008. As the dominant power groups from copyright industries from different leading jurisdictions have shaped global digital copyright law; any copyright debate based on normative approach has to yield to their economic and political powers. Apparently, no matter how ill-conceived the international IP standards may be insofar as they relate to copyright law, no amount of academic commentary is likely to change them. Jurisdictions that are about to enact digital copyright law may borrow Hong Kong experience.