Day 157 - 18 Jul 95 - Page 52
1 hands of a witness, then all they need to do is to say,
2 "You must give it back as soon as you have finished with
3 it, because you are only entitled to use it for the purpose
4 of preparing your evidence in court." The reason for this
5 part of the undertaking is the simple one that amongst the
6 Defendants' witnesses we have no doubt whatever that there
7 are persons who would otherwise use the transcripts in
8 order to compile these misleading and unrepresentative
9 reports of the proceedings.
10
11 My Lord, it goes on:
12
13 "(4) In consequence, the circulation of the
14 material would be confined to yourselves, your
15 legal advisers and your future witnesses. No
16 other person or body would be permitted to have
17 access to it, whether directly or indirectly;
18 that is to say, the Defendants, their legal
19 advisers and their witnesses would not be
20 permitted to pick up the telephone to some
21 sympathetic organ of the media and say, 'Gosh,
22 did you know that Mr. So and so said such and
23 such yesterday in the court' and, at the same
24 time, omit to tell the person on the other end
25 of the telephone how it was that what Mr. So and
26 so said was fully answered by McDonald's.
27
28 (5) If McDonald's perceive by reference, for
29 example, to media reports, Internet
30 transmissions or McLibel Support Campaign or
31 London Greenpeace literature that material was
32 being used for any purpose other than the
33 conduct of the case they would immediately, and
34 without notice, cease paying for it to be
35 provided to you.
36
37 (6) In this connection you should understand
38 that verbatim quotations from the material which
39 misrepresent or distort the overall effect of
40 the evidence by means of selection, suppression
41 or omission, are every bit as objectionable as
42 explicit misquotations, misattributions or
43 misdescriptions."
44
45 My Lord, that reflects the passage in Gattley which I read
46 to your Lordship not long ago.
47
48 "(7) You will notice that McDonald's would not
49 consent to your copying any material. The
50 reason is that that consent is not theirs to
51 give but Barnett Lenton's, who own the copyright
52 in the material."
53
54 I have never said, despite what Ms. Steel said a moment
55 ago, that McDonald's had any copyright rights in this
56 material. Those rights belong to Barnett Lenton.
57 McDonald's have bought, in effect, a licence from the
58 copyright owner, Barnett Lenton, to use the transcripts for
59 the purposes of these proceedings. Nor is Ms. Steel right
60 in suggesting she has no basis for it that McDonald's have
