TNAG-0265-FCO40-301-Legislation-for-copyright-in-Hong-Kong-1970 — Page 42

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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