TNAG-2300-FCO40-3328-Chinese-copyright-law-implications-for-Hong-Kong-1991 — Page 29

FEC 12411

21 MAY 1991

TRY

Foreign & Commonwealth.

Office

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RESTRICTED

London SWIA 2AH

Telephone: 071-

21 May 1991

J P Britton Esq

IPCD

Department of Trade & Industry

1 Victoria Street

London

SWIH OET

HKC031/19

Dear Britta

CHINA: COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1.

We have been in correspondence about

Mr Graham Greene's concerns over protection for UK interests afforded by the proposed Chinese Copyright Law. You supplied a line on this for the Foreign Secretary's recent visit to China but there was no time for this subject to be covered.

2.

During my own recent visit to Peking the subject of intellectual property rights was assuming a great deal of attention. My conversations in Peking, including with the British Council, indicate that we may need to raise the profile of our action with the Chinese in this area.

3. As you will have read China is facing the real possibility that the US Congress will block the renewal of its MFN status. Concerns over human rights and over Chinese arms proliferation are involved but there are very real trade issues at stake. It seems that foremost among these is the issue of intellectual property protection. When I was in Peking a major US delegation had recently visited China to press the Chinese for improvements in the draft copyright law and the implementing regulations that had been published and which are due to come into effect later this year.

4.

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The consensus seemed to be that these laws and regulations are vague not yet compatible with Berne convention obligations. The British Council office in Peking said that in particular the regulations give insufficient protection to computer software (the Chinese insist on full disclosure of software for registration. purposes: this is a major point of concern for the US, but also for the UK given our own software industry);

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