Although theGovernment and the legitimate goods manufacturers have increased efforts to crack downfake and pirated goods recently, a survey conducted by the Hong Kong Federation of YouthGroups found that pirated Compact Discs and Video Compact Discs remained very popularamong young people.

    Almost 80 per cent of young people said thatthey had bought fake or pirated goods in the past, and they bought them mainly from storesand shopping centres. Among the various kinds of fake or pirated products, pirated CDs andVCDs were found to be the most popular among young people. More than 80 per cent ofrespondents said low prices of fake or pirated goods was the main reason for buying them.

    While around 35 per cent of respondentsbelieved that the fake or pirated goods market had a very serious detrimental effect onHong Kong's economy, around 30 per cent of respondents thought that the selling of fake orpirated goods could improve the recent unemployment problem.

    The survey found that young people had acontradictory standard in assessing whether it was necessary to punish people whopurchased counterfeit goods for self-consumption as against those who sold them. More thanhalf of the respondents did not agree with punishing people who purchased counterfeitgoods for self-consumption but supported punishment of those who purchased counterfeitgoods for the purpose of selling them.

    The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groupsconducted this telephone survey from 18 to 21 January 1999. A total of 517 young people,aged 15 to 29, were successfully interviewed. The survey found that young people weresplit over whether buying counterfeit goods was immoral. The percentage of respondentssupporting the notion that it was immoral for one to buy counterfeit goods was similar tothose who thought otherwise, claiming around 47 per cent of respondents' answersrespectively.

    More than 60 per cent of respondents saidthat the Government had not made sufficient effort to crack down on fake or pirated goods.The greatest number of respondents (46 per cent) said that the crack down on pirated CDsand VCDs would affect them the most.

    The inferior quality of fake or pirated goodswas found to be the main reason that young people gave up buying them, not because theyhad a strong commitment to protect intellectual property rights.

    Although the Government has stepped upefforts to arouse public concern for the protection of intellectual property rights, thesurvey found that young people generally had very little concern in this regard. If 0pints indicate weak concern and 10 points indicate very strong support, young people onaverage scored 5.19 points only. One-third of young people even did not know that theIntellectual Property Right Law had been implemented in Hong Kong.

    When asked under what circumstances wouldthey buy legitimate goods, the greatest number of respondents said that they would do soonly if the legitimate goods had lowered prices to a reasonable level.

    Jacky Pang, the senior research officer ofthe Federation, said that the demand for pirated CDs and VCDs among young people was quitegreat because of the high prices of legitimate CDs and VCDs that were very popular in theworld of youth. The ever-updating CDs and VCD market meant that young people had financialdifficulties in buying only legitimate CDs and VCDs. Counterfeit goods, like bags,trousers, shoes and watches, however, were not so popular among young people.

    Mr. Pang went on to say that young people'sconcern for the protection of intellectual property rights was quite weak. Moreover, youngpeople had a divided view on whether it was immoral for one to buy fake or pirated goods.In addition, young people were split over whether the fake or pirated goods market wasgood for Hong Kong's economy. All and all of these suggested that young people had acontradictory view of fake or pirated goods. The Federation urged increasing awareness ofyoung people's knowledge of protecting intellectual property rights through education. Italso advocated for a tightening of measures to prevent businessmen from makingunreasonably high profits by the sale of counterfeit goods.

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