TNAG-2300-FCO40-3328-Chinese-copyright-law-implications-for-Hong-Kong-1991 — Page 27

The

Patent Office

RESTRICTED

This apart, the Embassy will clearly need to advise on the best way forward. My assessment of the factual situation, on the basis of the information I have received, is that the regulations fall a considerable way short of meeting the concerns which we had previously identified (see my report of 22 February of discussions with the Chinese authorities). main deficiencies are:

-

sound-recordings are not clearly protected in their own right;

- there is no clear right to control importation of

protected works;

the exceptions to copyright owners rights appear too broad, particularly in relation to copying in educational establishments and government institutions;

copyright owners appear to be denied the basic Berne Convention right of equitable remuneration for all broadcasting of their works.

We would also like to see other improvements in the law, namely

a rental right for record producers;

- a right at least to remuneration for record

producers (as well as the owners of copyright in the music) when records are broadcast;

The

I am not well-placed to comment on the adequacy of the law in respect of either enforcement of rights or computer software. When discussing the latter in Peking both NCAC and the Ministry of Machinery and Electronics Industries said that the Ministry would be producing separate regulations on software but I have yet to see them. I was told that registration would not be a prerequisite for protection but would be necessary before actions for enforcement could be commenced. I was also assured that full disclosure would not be necessary for registration purposes, merely sufficient to allow identification. Our industry might be prepared to live with this, but, clearly, the precise content of the regulations will be critical. On enforcement, we were told that, once a decision had been taken to protect foreign works, separate regulations would be produced, setting out the relevant legal procedures.

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