People in Hong Kong are becoming more aware of the need to protect others' intellectual property rights, a survey published yesterday has claimed.

According to the poll, commissioned last year by the intellectual property department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, 96.3 percent of people think it is necessary to protect intellectual property rights.

Of the people polled, 91.6 percent said they knew IP included copyright, patents, trademarks and registered designs, up from 84.7 percent in 2005.

"Since we conducted our first survey in 1999, the public's awareness of IP rights has significantly improved," Stephen Selby, director of the intellectual property department, said.

Less than 9 percent of the people polled said they still buy pirated or counterfeit goods, down from 15 percent in 2005, he said.

However, the government survey found that people do not seem to care as much about the protection of intellectual property rights when it comes to the Internet.

Just 40.7 percent regarded buying a CD and converting it to MP3 for personal use was an infringement of IP rules.

While 80 percent of people said it is morally wrong to download files from unauthorized websites, 78.6 percent said they would not pay for legal alternatives.

"While it is encouraging to see that awareness of intellectual property among Hong Kong people is increasing, we need to focus on new trends," Selby said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2009)