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  1. #1

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    copyright infringement

    Today the SCMP posted this article about the arrest of a tutoring centre boss.
    Customs officers raid tutoring chain suspected of copyright offences, seize 50,000 pages of notes, 13 photocopiers | South China Morning Post

    In short, he made lots of copies of books for students at his centres and is being charged with copyright infringement. His case is obviously serious (he had 13 copy machines!!!), but it got me wondering about Hong Kong copyright laws. What are they, exactly?

    Obviously copying a whole book is no good, but what about certain worksheets? I work as a tutor, so if I had a new student, I might buy a new book and make a copy of a page or two to give him for him to use in that lesson. But then would that be considered breaking copyright?

    I would assume that an educational book would be made with the teacher's needs in mind, so copying like that would be expected. But I guess I am not sure how strict they are.


  2. #2

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    As a tutor, no. You need someone to complain about you doing this. I doubt a private lesson would care. Also the less % of a page that you copy, the better.


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  4. #4

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    .....he had 13 copy machines!!!
    ......officers raided 13 centres......
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  5. #5

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    Haha, fair point JAherbert.

    Thanks for the link, drumbrake, but does that apply? That is talking about not-for-profit schools, and tutoring is not that. And it's also talking about copying literature or using music or videos. Even the examples (playing a DVD or copying the whole book because you don't want to buy it) wouldn't really be relevant to a tutoring situation.

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  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by foreverhobbes:
    ...That is talking about not-for-profit schools....
    it is not limited to non-profits...they could use a page out of a book or or photo from internet, for example, but not copy entire books

  7. #7

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    The price of any of those books is probably way less then 1 hour of tutoring.


  8. #8

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    I think the limited usage of any copied material in a private tutorial lesson would fall under the category of 'fair use'. In addition, the way I understand it is that those regulations only apply to educational establishments.


  9. #9

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    Is this the chain of centers where an animal who likes bananas and climbing up a ... plantation?


  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by WMDS:
    Is this the chain of centers where an animal who likes bananas and climbing up a ... plantation?
    Yes! I am curious about that.
    angeluscomplex likes this.

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