Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
DRAFT
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted. Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
.In Confidence
To:-
*
Type 1 +
From
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
?
Clause 47
The wholly intractable subject of copyright
including a bundle of files about 10 inches thick -
has recently reached me. It comes of course at a
moment when there are no Ministers available to take
decisions nor will there be for a while. Given that t
policy recommended by you has an attendant threat of action in Parliament by its opponents I am in some doubt whether it will commend itself either to a new
Minister trying to learn his job or even to an old one
anxious to avoid confrontation too soon. This
confrontation it seems to me is inevitable to judge
from the representations made to us already by the
protagonists involved on behalf of R.T.V. and T.V.B.
if we lay the Order Council here and if we authorise you to proceed on the course of legislation which includes Clause 4(2) of your draft Hong Kong Copyright bill.
2.
In seeking to avoid such a confrontation while
pursuing the essentials of the policy which you have set yourself I was particularly struck by the concludin paragraph of your saving despatch No. 1393 of 24 Octobe 1968 the terms of which I fully endorse. The course
of action which you propose is, I am sure, intended to
protect the public interest given the inability of the
two companies to come to an agreement.. But as was then said "they have not come to an agreement (and apparently refuse even to discuss the matter) This
describes the situation almost two years ago since when it seems to me that two things have happened:
(a)
•
TVB has two years or more of experience behind it and is now a very healthy youngster competing successfully with RTV.
(b) There have been changes, at least in the
managements of RTV, which might result
/in
(118281) Dd. 391599 1,500M 2/69 Hw.
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Page 120Page 121
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.