More aware: Director of Intellectual Property Stephen Selby says $7 million will be spent to boost public awareness of copyright protection in the coming financial year.

More than 90% of Hong Kong people feel intellectual property protection is necessary, a survey has found.

Director of Intellectual Property Stephen Selby said the study shows that Hong Kong people are now more aware of the importance of protecting intellectual property rights.

The department's fifth annual survey found that 55.1% of respondents felt intellectual property safeguards are necessary "to protect the interests of inventors and encourage creativity".

On how to strengthen intellectual property protection, 26.9% preferred raising awareness and strengthening education, while 25.8% opted for full-scale enforcement against the sale of pirated and counterfeit goods.

Similar to previous surveys, 74.5% considered that the current level of intellectual property rights infringement in Hong Kong was serious.

The survey showed that 67.2% of respondents thought people around them had bought or used pirated or counterfeit goods. However, 83.2% of this group said they were not much influenced or not at all influenced by such behaviour.

About 20.3% of respondents said they would often or sometimes buy pirated or counterfeit products, 30.2% claimed they would seldom buy them, and 47.8% said they had never bought such products.

"While it is comforting to see a growing respect for intellectual property rights, we still need to do more to get people to turn their good intentions into actions," Mr Selby said.

"Although respondents are showing more understanding of the value of intellectual property, there are still too many people who can't resist buying and using pirated and counterfeit goods. We shall need to strengthen our education efforts."

$7 million set aside to promote IP protection

The department will relaunch the 'No Fakes Pledge' in February in collaboration with the Customs & Excise Department, HK Tourism Board and other bodies to boost the confidence of local consumers and tourists, and to remind retailers of the importance of intellectual property protection.

"We have budgeted about $7 million for public education efforts in the coming financial year," Mr Selby said.

The survey also revealed that more than 80% of respondents believe that intellectual property protection can help the development of local creative industries and our overall development. About 77% felt the Government should put more resources into developing creative culture and industries in order to create wealth.

"The survey shows that people have positive opinions on the development of creative culture and creative industries. They understand the importance of intellectual property in the development of creative industries as well as in revitalising our economy," Mr Selby said.

"I hope that in the coming year, we can persuade people that the consumer has a positive role to play by refusing to join the market for pirated and counterfeit goods."

Details of the survey are available on the department's website.