any comment. It should, however, be
noted that the Order is subject to
annulment in pursuance of a resolution of
either House of Parliament; that its
presentation would provide RTV with an opportunity to lobby Members of Parliament
to pray against the Order; and that the
responsibility for dealing with any
debate in Parliament would fall upon the
President of the Board of Trade.
11. Draft Copyright Bill: The only
provision of significance in the draft
Bill is clause 4. The effect of the clause,
when read with Section 14 of the United
Kingdom Copyright Act, 1956, will be to
create a copyright in every sound and
television programme broadcast by any of
the existing broadcasting organisations
in Hong Kong, and to make it an
infringement of that copyright if such
a broadcast is relayed to subscribers
to a diffusion service without the licence
of the originating broadcast organisation
This will mean that RTV will not be able
to relay the broadcast programmes of TVB
without first obtaining permission from
them to do so. This clause, therefore,
would substantially diminish the use and
value of RTV's exclusive relay rights
granted under its licence. However,
there can in fact be no legal objection
to the Clause since RTV's licence spec-
ifically provides that it is subject to
any copyright which may exist in material
received by means of RTV's broadcast
receiving station.
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