Day 041 - 28 Oct 94 - Page 23

     
     1   MR. RAMPTON:  No, because these are court proceedings.
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Presumably, it is your clients' own copyright
     4        in any event.
     5
     6   MR. RAMPTON:  I had not thought of that, but probably it is.
     7        All I would say is this:  I am resistant to the defendants'
     8        evident enthusiasm for spending McDonald's money.  If it
     9        can be done quickly and cheaply, certainly we will do it.
    10        I do not believe we have an obligation to do it.  All we
    11        have an obligation to do is to disclose documents which the
    12        Defendants are at liberty to inspect and take copies of at
    13        their expense or to have us take copies of at their
    14        expense.
    15
    16   MS. STEEL:  The Plaintiffs should be aware that if we are going
    17        to start to pay for documents, then they will not get them
    18        back.  That is precisely the order they asked for.
    19
    20   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I can always be asked to modify the order of,
         is it, Mr. Justice Drake in that respect.
    22
    23   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes.
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Either generally or with regard to specific
    26        documents.  The way I think at the moment -- I am not
    27        deciding anything; if there is going to be an argument
    28        I will make a formal ruling, if need be -- I might not
    29        necessarily be impressed that the Defendants should be
    30        provided with two copies because they are two Defendants.
    31        I do see some practical advantage in them having a copy for
    32        their use and a copy which their witnesses can look through
    33        and play back and play forward again at their convenience,
    34        as much as anything to save time within the next two weeks.
    35
    36   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  So, I would like the enquiry to be made to
    39        see whether it is difficult and costly or not.
    40
    MR. RAMPTON:  If I have to argue it, I will.  I will argue it if
    42        it turns out to be expensive and inconvenient for my
    43        clients.
    44
    45   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Let us find whether it is costly or not.
    46        Perhaps I could ask you.  (To the witness):  You spend some
    47        of your time looking at video tapes of proposed ads, past
    48        ads and, it would not surprise me, competitors' ads and so
    49        on.  Are there ready means of copying?  Do you have one in
    50        your office where you can copy tapes? 
    51        A.  We do not, but I am pretty certain our advertising 
    52        agency would. 
    53
    54   Q.   They would do that to be helpful, would they?
    55        A.  Just in my experience, if you wanted to tape from that
    56        particular video tape, then you could do it in the manner
    57        you suggested.  The quality would not be very good.  If you
    58        were to go back to the originals and independently and
    59        individually put each one on one tape, that is quite
    60        expensive.