MACAU SAR, CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Pedro Cortés and Luís Rôlo, Lektou
c) The game is also offered or approved as a game of chance or as an electric or mechanical machine game, in the casinos of Macau.” Article 4 prohibits the casino gaming conces - sionaires from operating interactive games and further stipulates that concessions for interac - tive games shall be separate from casino gaming concessions. No concession for interactive games has been granted until now. Under Article 7 of Law No 20/2024 (Unlawful Gambling Law), the unauthorised operation of online gaming, covering games of chance and pari-mutuel betting, is criminalised: whoever operates, promotes, or organises online gaming without appropriate legal authorisation – regard - less of whether the systems, devices or servers are located in Macau – shall be punished, upon conviction, with imprisonment for a term rang - ing from one to eight years. Negligence is also punishable. Operation of online games not meeting the cri - teria of “interactive games” (of chance) of either Law No 16/2001 and Law No 20/2024 is unregu - lated. 9.2 Regulatory Bodies The regulatory body for the gaming industry of Macau is the Gaming Inspection and Coordina - tion Bureau ( Direcção de Inspecção e Coorde- nação de Jogos – DICJ). It is a public admin - istration body, directly under the Secretary for Economy and Finance. DICJ has extensive powers, including regulatory, supervisory and enforcement of administrative penalties.
The decisions in administrative (regulatory) enforcement cases are generally not made public. Significant cases in judiciary (criminal) enforcement are usually reported to the media by the authorities. 9.3 Intellectual Property The general IP rights are enshrined in Decree- Law No 43/99/M, as amended by Law No 5/2012. There are no specific stipulations addressing the protection of IP rights in the context of a virtual environment. The protection afforded by Decree-Law No 43/99/M includes, in some cases, a specific provision for works made available to the public over a public computer network, which may be applicable to the virtual environment. Publishing or making available an unpublished work without the authorisation of the owner of the IP rights is a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment not exceeding three years. Using other protected real-world content, includ - ing phonograms and videograms, in a public computer network is subject to the authorisation of the IP owner. Failure to abide by this provision will result in a criminal offence, punishable with imprisonment not exceeding two years. The application of Decree-Law No 43/99/M to other situations involving a virtual environment may require an in-depth analysis of the circum - stances of the case.
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