Our reference: HKC 031/15
16 September 1993
BY FAX
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SWIA 2AH
Telephone: 071-
270-2653
Peter Harrison Esq
Government Secretariat
Recreation and Culture Branch
41st Floor, Revenue Tower
5 Gloucester Road
Wan Chai
Hong Kong
Dear Mr Hamson,
HKC 031/15
2.UCI 1993
COPYRIGHT ACT 1956 HONG KONG
1.
Further to our recent correspondence about copyright protection for subscription television in Hong Kong, which rests with my letter to you of 13 August. we have received a letter from Judith Sullivan, Intellectual Property Policy Directorate, The Patent Office.
2. Mrs Sullivan has been told by the International Federation of Phonogram Producers (IFPI) that they have heard that a cable television service is unlikely to commence in Hong Kong for another couple of years as the cable network will not be in place until then. In the meantime they understand that the cable licensee plans to launch an encrypted broadcasting service in October. As I had understood from our previous correspondence that cable television was due to commence in October, I should be very grateful for your comments on the information Mrs Sullivan has received from the IFPI.
3.
If the information from the IFPI is true Mrs Sullivan has commented that the 1984 changes to the 1956 Act, which make the inclusion of a work in a cable programme a restricted act and which give copyright protection to a cable programme would not be immediately useful, even if they could be extended to Hong Kong. She has also commented that the 1984 Act did make some changes to the 1956 Act regarding copyright in a broadcast, but the restricted act of inclusion of a copyright work in a broadcast has always been in the 1956 Act and was unchanged by the 1984 Act. Apparently the IFPI have been told that the 1956 Act is inadequate to deal with any encrypted broadcasting service, but are unconvinced that the
AB
Let.cableTV
37