Intellectual Property Rights Webinar - Trade marks, Copyright, Licensing, Release, and Practical Tips

Hong Kong Intellectual Property Partner Amita Haylock conducted a webinar on IP rights for members of WYNG Media Awards (WMA) (part of WYNG Foundation) on a pro bono basis on November 11, 2020. WMA is a non-profit platform set up with the aim to foster discussion through images about topics (e.g. waste, air, poverty, etc…) important to Hong Kong. About 34 artists and several employees of WMA were in attendance virtually. Trainee Solicitor Douglas Yang assisted with the preparation of the webinar. 

Amita opened the session with a discussion about what trademarks are, why you might need them and how long they last, and registered and unregistered trademarks. Copyright was next up, with the remarks here covering ideas such as authorship vs ownership, duration, proving copyright and protection. Creative Commons Licences was the subject of the next part of the presentation. The team discussed the different features of this type of licence, such as where they are recognised, who they are for and the different types. The team also pointed out some of the relevant considerations when choosing a Creative Commons Licence. The final part of the webinar looked at licensing and in particular the whole area of releases (Model Release and Property Release), what kind of artist would find them useful and when, as well as remedial actions available against the unauthorised use of work and privacy issues – personality rights and personal data.