TNAG-0086-FCO40-122-Copyright-legislation-1968 — Page 50

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(Hong Kong) Ltd. the exclusive right to relay

broadcast television material, even if, as

Mr. Hobley stated, the Hong Kong Government

records of the negotiations leading up to the

grant of the licence showed that this was not

then the Government's intention. They

consider that paragraph (b) of the licence

gave Rediffusion the exclusive right to

maintain a service distributed from their

stations by wire of any television programmes

and did not limit the service to their own

originated programmes or to one programme;

and they also consider that it would be

difficult to justify taking away from

Rediffusion the right to distribute by wire

broadcast television programmes (if that was

what the proposed copyright legislation would

do) on the ground only of the intention of

the Government in 1957.

5.

But, in my Legal Advisers' view, the

licence was necessarily subject to the law of

Hong Kong. The fact that Rediffusion (Hong

Kong) Ltd. held an exclusive right to relay

television broadcasts would not, for the sole

reason that the effect of the proposed

copyright legislation would be that

Rediffusion would have to obtain a licence

from the broadcasting company concerned

before they could exercise their exclusive

right to relay a broadcast and that the

company might not grant it, constitute a

legal objection to the proposed copyright

legislation. It is considered that

Rediffusion/

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