{
  "id": 10169917,
  "title": "Hong Kong delays AI copyright law to focus on guidelines first",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/hong-kong-delays-ai-copyright-law-to-focus-on-guidelines-first",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-27T08:00:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post - Hong Kong",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post-hong-kong",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3368913/hong-kong-delays-ai-copyright-law-focus-guidelines-first"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Hong Kong's authorities have postponed plans to introduce a legal amendment aimed at protecting copyrighted works from being utilized in training artificial intelligence (AI) models. Instead, the city will first draft operational guidelines for the proposed \"opt-out\" mechanism, which allows copyright holders to reserve their rights against AI training. Lawmaker Johnny Ng Kit-chong, chairman of Legco's panel on commerce, industry, innovation and technology, emphasized the need for a clear operational solution before the industry can seriously consider pursuing royalty recovery. The government has received diverse views and ideas following a two-month consultation in 2024, and there is no timetable for drafting the guidelines. The \"opt-out\" mechanism, along with other safeguards, aims to ensure reasonable use of copyrighted works for computational data analysis in AI training, while maintaining copyright holders' rights. Lawmakers and industry representatives stress the importance of finding a balanced, future-proof approach that considers local and international perspectives, market-driven cooperation, licensing schemes, and continuous benchmarking with global trends.",
  "summary": "Hong Kong authorities will delay a proposed legal amendment to protect copyrighted works from being used to train artificial intelligence (AI) models and will issue operational guidelines first, the South China Morning Post has learned. The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2025, which aimed to introduce an “opt-out” mechanism for text and data mining to support AI technology development, was originally…",
  "key_points": [
    "Hong Kong delays AI copyright law introduction",
    "City drafts operational guidelines for opt-out mechanism",
    "No timetable for guidelines, consults ongoing"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "South China Morning Post",
        "title": "Hong Kong can offer AI governance solutions for major economies: Paul Chan",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/hong-kong-can-offer-ai-governance-solutions-for-major-economies-paul",
        "published": "2026-09-27T05:43:38.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}