In August 2024, we reported on the Hong Kong Government’s two-month public consultation on potential revisions to the Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528) (“CO”) in response to developments in generative artificial intelligence (“AI”). The public consultation was completed on 8 September 2024.
On 18 February 2025, the Government submitted a discussion paper (“Paper”) to the Legislative Council’s Panel on Commerce, Industry, Innovation and Technology. The Paper sets out the outcomes of the public consultation and the Government’s proposal for refinement of the CO to include a text and data mining exception (“TDM Exception”).
A TDM Exception, which allows use of copyright works without authorization from copyright owners for computational data analysis and processing, is already available in a number of jurisdictions such as the European Union, United Kingdom and Singapore. In the context of AI development, a TDM Exception permits AI systems to learn by extracting and analysing published text and data, and is therefore enormously useful for the training of AI models. The proposed TDM Exception in Hong Kong will be applicable to both non-commercial and commercial users, so that both public research institutes and AI technology companies can benefit from such exception. The HK TDM Exception, however, will be subject to certain restrictions, including:
- the copyright works must be accessed via lawful means (i.e. infringing copies cannot be used);
- records of the source of copyright works must be kept and disclosed;
- the proposed exception will not be applicable if relevant licensing schemes are available for conducting the act permitted under the proposed TDM Exception;
- an “opt-out” option is provided for copyright owners expressly to reserve their rights (for example, this can be done by indicating their choice through machine readable means in the case of content made publicly available online).
The Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department is currently drafting a detailed legislative proposal, drawing reference to TDM exceptions available in other jurisdictions. It aims to introduce an amendment bill to the Legislative Council before July 2025, while continuing to engage with stakeholders during the legislative amendment exercise.
Overall, the introduction of the TDM Exception described in the Paper echoes the Government’s aim to foster local AI technology development, boost Hong Kong’s competitiveness in the international innovation and technology sector, and further enhance Hong Kong’s copyright regime to align with those of major jurisdictions with similar TDM exceptions.