The government will issue a consultation paper on stricter punishment for Internet copyright violations to maintain a clean intellectual property rights (IPR) regime.

Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology Joseph Wong said this at a luncheon yesterday, and explained that the paper would look into the possibility of broadening the scope of criminal liability in online copyright violations.

"We will discuss whether criminal sanction can be imposed on individual users for uploading or downloading copyright materials (illegally) through peer-to-peer file-sharing," Wong said.

Since copyright materials can now be transferred in different formats from the original, Wong said the government will review the definition of "copyright materials" in the consultation paper.

The role of online service providers (OSP) could acquire a new meaning, he said. At present, the public relies on OSPs to remove or block copyright materials from cyberspace.

The scenario raises the question of whether sanction can be imposed on these OSPs and for over-regulating in a very competitive sector. A possible solution to this could be a collaboration between OSPs and copyright owners.

"It can be a very effective measure if OSPs can provide the copyright owners the IP addresses and online records of the infringers. The government will look for quick and inexpensive ways to ensure such a collaboration" starts as soon as possible.

Wong welcomed the Final Court of Appeal decision upholding the conviction of Chan Nai-ming, who was sentenced to three months in jail for uploading movies on the Net via BitTorrent in 2005.

"It shows the government's determination to prosecute copyright violators. Hopefully, we'll extend the protection by discussing some highly controversial issues during the consultation period."