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Mr. Dennis, one of the Directors of Rediffusion International Limited, called this morning at his own request and left me the attached letter about Hong Kong Copyright Legislation. As I think I have recorded elsewhere the local representative of Rediffusion (Hong Kong) was informed by the Secretariat a few weeks ago that the Governor had recommended to the F.C.O. that there should be no further delay in implementing his request for copyright legislation of a kind which in the view of R.T.V.(H.K.) would be inimical to their interests. This no doubt has resulted in Rediffusion Internationa 1 Limited re-stating their position in this letter.
2.
At the same time as they have re-stated their position they have made an offer in the third para- graph of their letter which may or may not improve the situation. They have agreed to proffer an undertaking to the Hong Kong Government that for the remainder of the period of their licence, that is up till 1973, they would not try to exercise the right under their licence in exchange for the Hong Kong Government's abandonment of those features of the copyright legislation to which Rediffusion take exception - in effect this is Clause 4(2). In presenting this proposal Mr. Dennis said that he thought that the Hong Kong Government would over the next couple of years be having to look very closly at all aspects of television in Hong Kong and he greatly hoped that this could be done in conjunction with the existing television companies.
3. Mr. Dennis also made it clear that in the event that Ministers approved the proposal as submitted by the Governor of Hong Kong they would be obliged to pursue their legal rights to the full. The issue was too important for Rediffusion International to make a unilateral concession in respect of Hong Kong alone.
4.
I thanked Mr. Dennis for giving me this letter and confirmed that the matter was still under consideration in the F.C.0. I said that we regarded ourselves as being under an obligation in view of previous correspondence to make known our views to Rediffusion in advance of any decision being communicated to the Governor. I added that I would be accompanying Mr. Royle to Hong Kong and that the matter would almost certainly come forward for discussion there, more particularly in the light of Mr. Dennis's letter. In the event that we do decide to proceed as requested by the Governor I am
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