The requirements for copyright to subsist in the Hong Kong SAR are:

1. The subject matter in question must fall within one of the specified categories of work –

   1. original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works;
   2. sound recordings or films;
   3. broadcasts or cable programmes; or
   4. typographical arrangements of published editions of literary, dramatic or musical works.
2. The work must be reduced to a ‘material form’, which means that it must be recorded in writing or otherwise (for instance, saved on a computer or recorded in some other way such as on film, tape etc.).
3. In the case of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, the work must be original, which means that it must originate from the author, in the sense that it must not be slavishly copied from another work.

In general, the person who creates the work (i.e. the author) will be the first owner of any copyright in it. In the case of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work which is computer-generated, the author refers to the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work are undertaken.