5. How do I obtain permission to use a copyright work?

The basic rule is to ask for permission from the copyright owner. If you know who the copyright owner is, you may contact the owner directly. If you do not know who the copyright owner is, you may start with the collecting societies that represent copyright owners.

Currently, there are a few collecting societies in Hong Kong representing authors, publishers, composers, lyricists, and record producers. The main function of these collecting societies is to negotiate licensing terms, grant licences and collect licence fees on behalf of the copyright owners for the use of their copyright works. At present, the major collecting societies are as follows.

• Hong Kong Reprographic Rights Licensing Society (HKRRLS) , representing authors and publishers of printed works (books, magazines, newspapers, journals, and periodicals).
• Hong Kong Copyright Licensing Association (HKCLA) , representing authors and publishers of 12 local newspapers and 19 local magazines.
• Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong Limited (CASH) , representing composers and lyricists of musical works.
• Phonographic Performance (South East Asia) Limited (PPSEAL) , representing producers of musical sound/visual recordings. PPSEAL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (Hong Kong Group) Limited , an affiliated industry association of International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) , the collecting society for recording companies worldwide.

The representation of these collecting societies and the types of licence granted by them can be found from their websites.