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LITERARY See also: COPYRIGHT 2. See also:United See also:Kingdom.—On the invention of See also:printing (see See also:PRESS See also:LAWS) the See also:crown, or other See also:sovereign See also:powers, granted See also:patents or licences with the See also:object of restricting the right of Histork4l multiP1Ying copies of literary See also:works, and this super- See also:vision of publication still has certain See also:historical results. A See also:special See also:kind of what amounts to perpetual copyright in various publications has for various reasons been recognized by the laws (1) in the crown, and (2) in the See also:universities and colleges. The various copyright acts, referred to below, except from their provisions the copyrights vested in the two See also:English and the four Scottish universities, Trinity See also:College, See also:Dublin, and the colleges of See also:Eton, See also:Westminster and See also:Winchester. Crown copyrights are saved by the See also:general principle which exempts crown rights from the operation of statutes unless they are expressly mentioned. Among the books in which the crown has claimed copyright are the English See also:translation of the See also:Bible, the See also:Book of See also:Common See also:Prayer, statutes, orders of privy See also:council,proclamations, almanacs, See also:Lilly's Latin See also:Grammar, See also:year books and See also:law reports. The copy- right in the Bible is rested by some on the See also:
Law reports were decided to be the See also: property of the crown in the reign of See also:
The records of the Stationers' See also: Company show that the See also:purchase and See also:sale of copy-rights had become an established usage, and the loss of the See also:protection, incidentally afforded by the Licensing Act, was See also:felt as a serious grievance, which ultimately led to the statute of 1709. That statute, as the See also:judges in See also:Millar v. See also:
Millar v. Taylor, however, was speedily overruled by the case of See also: Donaldson v. Beckett in the See also:House of Lords in 1794. The judges were called upon to state their opinions. A majority (seven to four) were of opinion that the author and his assigns had at common law the sole right of publication in See also:perpetuity. A majority (six to five) were of opinion that this right had been taken away by the statute of 1709, and a term of years substituted for the perpetuity. The decision appears to have taken the See also:trade by surprise. Many booksellers had purchased copyrights not protected by the statute, and they now petitioned parliament to be relieved from the consequences of the decision in Donaldson v. Beckett. A See also:bill for this purpose actually passed the House of See also:Commons, but Lord See also:Camden's See also:influence succeeded in defeating it in the House of Lords. The result is that from that time on See also:ordinary copyright has been recognized except in so far as it is sanctioned by statute. The university copyrights were, however, protected in perpetuity by an act passed in 1775.By an act of 18o1 the penalty for infringement of copyright was increased to threepence per sheet, in addition to the forfeiture of the book. The proprietor was to have an See also: action on the case against any person in. the United Kingdom, or See also:British dominions in See also:Europe, who should print, reprint, or import without the consent of the proprietor, first had in See also:writing, signed in the presence of two or more credible witnesses, any book or books, or who knowing them to be printed, &c., without the proprietor's consent should sell, publish, or expose them for sale; the proprietor to have his damages as assessed by the jury, and See also:double See also:costs of suit. A second See also:period of fourteen years was confirmed to the author, should he still be alive at the end of the first. Further, it was forbidden to import into the United Kingdom for sale books first composed, written, or printed and published within the United Kingdom, and reprinted elsewhere. Another See also:change was made by the act of 1814, which in substitution for the two periods of fourteen years gave to the author and his assignees copyright for the full term of twenty-eight years from the date of the first publication, " and also, if the author be living at the end of that period, for the See also:residue of his natural See also:life." 4. The Copyright Act of 1842 repealed the previous acts on the same subject, and is the basis of the existing law. Its preamble stated its object to be to encourage the See also:production of " literary See also:matter of lasting benefit to the See also:world." The 1842 . See also:principal clause is the following (§ 3) : That the copy- right in every book which shall after the passing of this act be published in the lifetime of its author shall endure for the natural life of such author, and for the further term of seven years, commencing at the time of his See also:death, and shall be the property of such author and his assignees; provided always that if the said term of seven years shall expire before the end of See also:forty-two years from the first publication of such book the copyright shall in that case endure for such period of forty-two years; and that the copyright of every book which shall be published after the death of its author shall endure for the term of forty-two years from the first publication thereof, and shall be the property of the proprietor of the author's See also:manuscript from which such book shall be first published and his assigns." The benefit of the enlarged period was extended to subsisting copyrights, unless they were the property of an assignee who had acquired them by purchase, in which case the period of copyright would be extended only if the author or his See also:personal representative agreed with the proprietor to accept the benefit of the act. By section 5 the judicial See also:committee of the privy council may license the republication of books which the proprietor of the copyright thereof refuses to publish after the death of the author. The See also:sixth section provides for the delivery within certain times of copies of all books published after the passing of the act, and of all subsequent See also:editions thereof, at the British Museum. And a copy of every book and its subsequent editions must be sent on demand to the following libraries: the Bodleian at Oxford, the public library at Cambridge, the library of the faculty of advocates in Edinburgh, and that of Trinity College, Dublin. Other libraries (the libraries of the four Scottish Universities, King's Inns, Dublin, and Sion College) entitled to this See also:privilege under the earlier acts had been deprived thereof by an act passed in '836, and grants from the See also:treasury, calculated on the See also:annual See also:average value of the books they had received, were ordered to be paid to them as See also:compensation.A book of registry is ordered to be kept at Stationers' Hall for the registration of copyrights, to be open to inspection on See also: payment of one See also:shilling for every entry which shall be searched for or inspected. And the officer of Stationers' Hall shall give a certified copy of any entry when required, on payment of five shillings; and such certified copies shall be received in See also:evidence in the courts as prima facie See also:proof of proprietorship or assignment of copyright or licence as therein expressed, and, in the case of dramatic or musical pieces, of the right of See also:representation or performance. False entries shall be punished as misdemeanours. The entry is to See also:record the See also:title of the book, the time of its publication, and the name and See also:place of See also:abode of the publisher and proprietor of copyright. Without making such entry no proprietor can bring an action for infringement of his copyright, but the entry is not otherwise to affect the copyright itself. Any person deeming himself aggrieved by an entry in the registry may complain to one of the See also:superior courts, which will order it to be expunged or varied if necessary. A proprietor may bring an action on the case for infringement of his copyright, and the defendant in such an action must give See also:notice of the objections to the plaintiff's title on which he means to rely. No person except the proprietor of the copyright is allowed to import into the British dominions for sale or hire any book first composed or written or printed and published in the United Kingdom, and reprinted elsewhere, under penalty of forfeiture and a fine of L10. The proprietor of any See also:encyclopaedia, See also:review, See also:magazine, periodical work, or work published in a See also:series of books or parts, who shall have employed any person to compose the same, or any volumes, parts, essays, articles, or portions thereof, for publication on the terms that the copyright therein shall belong to such proprietor, shall enjoy the term of copyright granted by the act.' But the proprietor may not publish separately any See also:article or review without the author's consent, nor may the author unless he has reserved the right of See also:separate publication. Where neither party has reserved the right they may publish by agreement, but the author at the end of twenty-eight years may publish separately. Proprietors of periodical works shall be entitled to all the benefits of registration under the act, on entering in the registry the title, the date of first publication of the first See also:volume or See also:part, and the names of proprietor and publisher. The See also:interpretation clause of the act defines a book to be every volume, part, or See also:division of a volume, pamphlet, sheet of See also:letter-press, sheet of See also:music, See also:map, See also:chart, or See also:plan separately published.5. During the last See also: quarter of the '9th See also:century the question of copyright became continually more prominent, and a considerable See also:extension was given by judicial interpretation to the See also:scope of the act of 1842. " Literary matter of lasting benefit to the world " came to include every publication (not being illegal) which could be described as " literary " or " original," the criterion as to the latter qualification being, in the last resort, whether (see Trade See also:Auxiliary Co. v. Middlesborough Association, '889, 40 Ch.D. 425) the author or compiler has really put his own See also:brain-work into it. 6. The most marked and certain progress has been in the application of the law of copyright to the periodical press, in order to protect within reasonable limits the labour See also:News- and See also:expenditure of See also:newspapers that obtain for the papers. public the earliest news and arrange it for publication. It is settled law since 188' (See also:Walter v. See also:Howe, '7 Ch.D. 708, over-ruling See also:Cox v. See also:Land S' See also:Water See also:Journal Co., '869), that a newspaper is a book within the meaning of the act, and can claim all rights that a Look has under the Copyright Act.Thus, leading articles, special articles, and even news items are protected (Walter v. Steinkcpff, 1892, 3 Ch. 489; See also: Exchange See also:Telegraph Co. v. See also:Gregory ' Such articles must be paid for, in order to vest copyright in the proprie tor. The leading case about encyclopaedias is that of See also:Lawrence and Bullen v. Aflalo, decided by the House of Lords in 1904.and Co., '896, i Q.B. 147). Current prices of See also:stocks and shares, translations, the compilation of a See also:directory, summaries of legal proceedings, and other similar literary work, so far as the literary form, the labour and See also:money are concerned, are equally protected. In See also:short, the test may now be broadly stated to be, whether labour of the brain and expenditure of money have been given for the production; whilst the old requirement of original matter is very broadly interpreted. The leading case on the subject is Walter v. See also:Lane (decided in the House of Lords, 6th See also:August 'goo). The question there raised was, whether or not copyright applied under the act of 1842 in respect of verbatim reports of speeches.Four law lords, viz. Lord Chancellor See also: Halsbury, Lord Davey, Lord See also:
Sime, '887, 12 A.C. 326. 8. The writer of private letters sent to another person may in general restrain their publication. It was urged in some of the cases that the sender had abandoned his property in the letter by the act of sending; but this was denied letters. Private by Lord Hardwicke (See also:
The question of what is an infringement of copyright has been the subject of much discussion. It was decided under the statute of '709 that a repetition from memory was not a publication so as to be an infringement of Test of infringe. copyright. In the case of See also: Reade v. See also:Conquest, '861, merit. 9 C.B., the same view was taken. The defendant had dramatized the plaintiff's novel It's Never too See also:Late to Mend, and the piece was performed at his See also:theatre. This was held to be no See also:breach of copyright; but the circulation of copies of a See also:drama, so taken from a copyright novel, whether gratuitously or for sale, is not allowed. Then again it is often a difficult question to decide whether the alleged piratical copyright does more than make that See also:fair use of the original author's materials which the law permits. It is not every act of borrowing literary matter from another which is piracy, and the difficulty is to draw the See also:line between what is fair and what is unfair. Lord See also:Eldon put the question thus,—whether the second publication is a legitimate use of the other in the fair exercise of a See also:mental operation deserving the character of an original work. Another test proposed is " whether you find on the part of the defendant an animus furandi—an intention to take for the purpose of saving himself See also:Recent extensions.labour." No one, it has been said, has a right to take, whether with or without See also: acknowledgment, a material and substantial portion of another's work, his arguments, his illustrations, his authorities, for the purpose of makinng or improving a See also:rival publication. When the materials are open to all, an author may acquire copyright in his selection or arrangement of them. Several cases have arisen on this point between the publishers of rival directories. Here it has been held that the subsequent compiler is See also:bound to do for himself what the original compiler had done. When the materials are thus in medio, as the phrase is, it is considered a fair test of piracy to examine whether the mistakes of both works are the same. If they are, piracy will be inferred. Translations stand to each other in the same relation as books constructed of materials in common. The animus furandi, mentioned above as a test of piracy, does not imply deliberate intention to steal; it may be quite compatible with See also:ignorance even of the copyright work. Abridgments, moreover, of original works appear to be favoured by the courts—when the act of abridgment is itself an act of the understanding, " employed in carrying a large work into a smaller See also:compass, and rendering it less expensive." Lord See also:Hatherley, however, in Tinsley v. See also:Lacy, 1863, 1 H. & M. 747, incidentally expressed his disapproval of this feeling—holding that the courts had gone far enough in this direction, and that it was difficult to acquiesce in the See also:reason sometimes given that the compiler of an abridgment is a benefactor to mankind by assisting in the See also:diffusion of knowledge.A mere selection or compilation, so as to bring the materials into smaller space, will not be a See also: bona fide abridgment; " there must be real substantial condensation, and intellectual labour, and See also:judgment bestowed thereon " (Justice Story). A publication professing to be A See also:Christmas See also:Ghost Story, Reoriginated from the Original by Charles See also:Dickens, Esq., and Analytically Condensed expressly for this Work, was found (Dickens v. See also:
2 Ex. 230, in which a See also: contract to let a See also:room for lectures of an irreligious character was held not to be binding. 11. The quasi-copyright in titles of books, See also:periodicals, &c. is founded on the desirability of preventing one person from putting off on the public his own productions as those Titles of of another. This is, however, not copyright, but a works. question of ordinary See also:fraud. The name of a journal (if sufficiently established) is a See also:species of trade-See also:mark in which the law recognizes what it calls a " species of property," provided any misleading of the public is involved. Thus, the Wonderful Magazine was invaded (1803) by a publication calling itself the Wonderful Magazine, New Series Improved. See also:Bell's Life in London was pirated (1859) by a See also:paper calling itself the Penny Bell's Life. The proprietors of the London Journal got an injunction (1859) against the Daily London Journal, which was projected by the person from whom they had bought their own paper, and who had covenanted with them not to publish any weekly journal of a similar nature. A See also:song published under the title of Minnie, sung by Madame See also:Anna Thillon and See also:Miss Dolby at See also:Monsieur See also:Jullien's concerts, was invaded (1855) by a song to the same See also:air published as Minnie See also:Dale, Sung at Jullien+Concerts by Madame Anna Thillon. On the other See also:hand, the See also:Sphere and See also:Spear, titles of misleading similarity, assumed by two weekly periodicals that appeared almost simultaneously in London in'goo, could not successfully attack each other, because neither had an established reputation when first adopted.12. Dramatic and musical compositions stand on this See also: peculiar footing, that they may be the subject of two entirely distinct rights. As writings they come within the general Copyright Act, and the unauthorized multiplication of Drama and copies is a piracy of the usual sort. This was decided to music. be so even in the case of musical compositions under the act of 1709. The Copyright Act of 1842 includes a " sheet of music" in its See also:definition of a book. Separate from the copy-right thus existing in dramatic or musical compositions is the See also:stage-right or right of representing them on the stage; this was the right created by the Dramatic Copyright Act of 1833, in the case of dramatic pieces. This act gave the owner of the stage-right (right of representation) a period of twenty-eight years, or the duration of the author's life if longer. The Copyright Act 1842 extended this right to musical compositions, and made the period in both cases the same as that fixed for copyright. And the act expressly provides (See also:meeting a contrary decision in the courts) that the assignment of copyright of dramatic and musical pieces shall not include the right of representation unless that is expressly mentioned. The act of 1833 prohibited representation " at any place of public entertainment," a phrase which was omitted in the act of 1842, and it may perhaps be inferred that the restriction is now more general and would extend to any unauthorized representation anywhere. A question has also been raised whether, to obtain the benefit of the act, a musical piece must be of a dramatic character. The dramatization of a novel, i.e.' the acting of a drama constructed out of ,materials derived from a novel, is not necessarily an infringement of the copyright in the novel (supposing it to be possible to do it without making any sort of colourable copy of the literary form), but to publish a drama so constructed has been held to be a breach of copyright (Tinsley v.Lacy, 1863, 1 H. & M. 747, where defendant had published two plays founded on two of Miss See also: Braddon's novels, and reproducing the incidents and in many cases the See also:language of the original). Where two persons dramatize the same novel, what, it may be asked, are their respective rights? In See also:Toole v. See also:Young, 1874, 9 Q.B. 523, this point actually arose. A, the author of a published novel, dramatized, it and assigned the drama to the plaintiff, but it was never printed, published or represented upon the stage. B, ignorant of A's drama, also dramatized the novel and assigned his drama to the defendant, who represented it on the stage. It was held that any one might dramatize A's published novel, and that the representation of B's drama was not a representation of A's drama. This case may be compared with Reade v. Lacy (1861).In the " Little Lord See also: Fauntleroy " case (1888) the person who dramatized the novel of another without his consent, an operation up to that time believed to be unassailable in law, was attacked successfully, by preventing him from using printed or written copies of the See also:play, either to See also:deposit with the lord See also:
But this act had various See also: practical defects, which still See also:left publishers largely at the See also:mercy of the pirates. In 19o5 the evil had become so serious that the chief music publishers announced their intention of not producing any further works till the law was altered; but the new Musical Copyright Bill of that year was obstructed and talked out in the House of Commons. In See also:November 1905 an important See also:prosecution, instituted by Messrs See also:Chappell on behalf of the associated music-publishers and composers, was brought against a coterie of pirates. In the session of 1906 another See also:attempt, this time successful, was made to pass a Musical Copyright Bill. This act (the Musical Copy-right Act 1906) made it a criminal offence, punishable with fine and imprisonment, to reproduce or sell, or to possess plates for the production of, pirated copies of musical works. The act also gave power to a See also:constable to See also:arrest without See also:warrant any person who in any public place exposes for sale or has in his See also:possession for sale, or canvasses or personally advertises pirated copies, provided that the apparent owner of the copyright signs an authority requesting such arrest at his own See also:risk. Also a court of summary See also:jurisdiction may See also:
In Cocks v. Purday, the court of common pleas held that it was not. In Boosey v. See also:
The views of the minority were affirmed by the House of Lords (Lord Chancellor See also: Cranworth and Lords See also:Brougham and St Leonards). The lord chancellor's opinion was founded upon " the general See also:doctrine that a British See also:senate would legislate for British subjects properly so called, or for such persons who might obtain that character for a time by being resident in this See also:country, and therefore under See also:allegiance to the crown, and under the protection of the laws of England." Lord Brougham said that " The statute of See also:Anne had been passed for the purpose of encouraging learned men, and with that view that act had given them the exclusive right in their publications for twenty-one years. This, however, was clear, they had no copyright at common law, for if they had there would have been no See also:necessity for the passing of that statute. It could scarcely be said that the legislature had decided a century and a half since that act was to be passed to create a See also:monopoly in literary works solely for the benefit of foreigners.. In the See also:present case he was clearly of opinion that the copyright did not exist, and therefore that foreign law should not prevail over British law where there was such diversity between the two." Against the authority of this case, however, must he set the opinion of two great lord chancellors—Lord See also:Cairns and Lord See also:Westbury. In the case of See also:Routledge v. See also:Low, L.R. 3 H. L. too, 1868, Lord Cairns said, " The aim of the legislature is to increase the common stock ofthe literature of the country; and if that stock can be increased See also:lay the publication for the first time here of a new and valuable work composed by an See also:alien who has never been in the country, I see nothing in the wcrding of the act which prevents, nothing in the policy of the act which should prevent, and everything in the professed object of the act and in its wide and general provisions which should entitle such a person to the protection of the act, in return and compensation for the addition he has made to the literature of the country." And Lord Westbury said, in the same case, " The case of Jeffreys v. Boosey is a decision which is attached to and depends on the particular statute of which it was the exponent, and as that statute had been repealed and is now replaced by another act, with different enactments expressed in different language, the case of Jeffreys v. Boosey is not a binding authority in the exposition of this later statute. The act appears to have been dictated by a See also:wise and liberal spirit, and in the same spirit it should be interpreted, adhering of course to the settled rules of legal construction.The preamble is, in my opinion, quite inconsistent with the conclusion that the protection given by the statute was intended to be confined to the works of British authors. The real condition of obtaining its advantages is the first publication by the author of his work in the United Kingdom. Nothing renders necessary his bodily presence here at the time, and I find it impossible to discover any reason why it should be required, or what it can add to the merit of the first publication. If the See also: intrinsic merits of the reasoning on which Jeffreys v. Boosey was decided be considered, I must frankly admit that it by no means commands my assent." These conclusions might follow also from the See also:Naturalization Act of 187o, which enacts that real and personal property of every description may be taken, acquired, held, and disposed. of by an alien in the same manner in all respects as by a natural See also:born British subject. At the present time the See also:International Copyright Act has largely removed the question from,. the See also:area of conflict. 14. International Copyright.—Books, published in one country and circulated in another depend for their protection in the latter upon international copyright. Until 1886 international copyright in Great See also:Britain rested on a series of orders The See also:Bern in council, made under the authority of the Inter- See also:convention. See also:national Copyright Act 1844 (superseding acts of 1820 and 1826), conferring on the authors of a particular foreign country the same rights in Great Britain as British authors, on condition of their registering their work, in Great Britain within a year of first publication abroad. A condition of the granting of each order was that the , sovereign should be satisfied that reciprocal protection was given in the country in question to British authors. As the result of conferences at Bern in 1885 and 1887, this See also:system was simplified and made more general by the treaty known as " The Bern Convention," signed at Bern on the 5th of See also:September 1887. The contracting parties were the British See also:Empire, See also:Belgium, France, Germany, See also:Italy,, See also:Spain, See also:Switzerland, See also:Tunis and Hayti.See also: Luxemburg, See also:Monaco, See also:Norway and See also:Japan afterwards joined. See also:Austria and See also:Hungary have a separate convention with Great Britain, concluded on the 24th of See also:April 1893. The notable absentees among See also:European powers are See also:
So far as these decisions affect Great Britain, the greatest alterations of existing law would be in establishing throughout the Union protection of musical copyright, especially with regard to singing and talking See also: machines, and also in the matter of newspaper copyright. The conference adopted a threefold division of newspaper matter : (t) serial stories, tales and all other work, literary, scientific and See also:artistic, which is to have See also:absolute protection; (2) all newspaper matter, except the foregoing and mere items of general news (faits See also:divers), of which reproduction is to be permitted on acknowledgment of the source, unless such reproduction is expressly forbidden; (3) news of the day and See also:simple facts, to which no protection is given. An endeavour was also made to have a See also:uniform period throughout the Union for copyright of the author's life and 50 years. 15. Colonial Copyright.—Under English copyright, books of the United Kingdom were formerly protected in the colonies by the Colonial Copyright Act of 1847, and copies of them printed or reprinted elsewhere could not be imported into the colonies. In 1876 a royal See also:commission was appointed to consider the whole question of See also:home, colonial and international copyright; and various recommendations were made. But the matter now rests on the English International Copyright Act 1886, which contains provisions designed to extend the benefit of the British copyright acts to works first produced in the colonies, while allowing each See also:colony to legislate separately for works first produced within its own limits. The colonies at present are all included in the system of international copyright established by the Bern convention. In 1875 an act was passed (re-enacted in 1886 in the revised See also:Canadian statutes) to give effect to an act of the parliament of the Dominion of See also:Canada respecting copyright. An order in council in 1868 had suspended the See also:prohibition against the importation of foreign reprints of English books into Canada; and the parliament had passed a bill on the subject of copyright as to which doubts had arisen whether it was not repugnant to the Order in Council. It was also enacted that, after the bill came into operation, if an English copyright book became entitled to Canadian copyright, no Canadian reprints thereof should be imported into the United Kingdom, unless by the owner of the copyright. The following points in the Canadian act are See also:worth noting:—Any person printing or publishing an unprinted manuscript without the consent of the author or legal proprietor shall be liable in damages (§ 3).Any person domiciled in Canada, or in any part of the British possessions, or being a See also: citizen of any country having an inter-national copyright treaty with the United Kingdom, who is the author of any book, map, &c., &c., shall have the sole right and liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, &c., for the term of twenty-eight years. The work must be printed and published, or reprinted or republished in Canada, whether before or after its publication elsewhere: and the Canadian privilege is not to be See also:con-tinued after the copyright has ceased elsewhere. And" no immoral or licentious, or irreligious, or treasonable, or seditious literary, scientific or artistic work " shall be the subject of copyright (§ 4). A further period of fourteen years will be continued to the author or his widow and See also:children. An " See also:interim copyright " pending publication may be obtained by depositing in the See also:office of the See also:minister of See also:agriculture (who keeps the See also:register of copyrights) a copy of the title of the work; and works printed first in a series of articles in a periodical, but intended to be published as books, may have the benefit of this interim copyright. If a copyright work becomes out of print, the owner may be notified of the act through the minister of agriculture, who, if he does not apply a remedy, may license a new edition, subject to a See also:royalty to the owner. See also:Anonymous books may be entered in the name of the first publisher. In 1889 an amending Canadian act was passed, which led to a long controversy with the See also:Mother Country,—the imperial See also:government refusing to See also:sanction it,—till in 1900 a See also:compromise was effected, and a further pct amending that of 1886 became law. It applies only to books copyright in Canada, and, subject to certain reservations, allows the minister of agriculture to prohibit the importation, without consent of the licensees, of any copies printed elsewhere of books published in the British dominions licensed by the owners to be reproduced in Canada. The Australian states all have copyright laws modelled on the English. New See also:Zealand provides for a term of 28 years, or the author's life. In Cape Colony the term for books is the author's life and 5 years, or a minimum of 30 years.The See also: Indian act of 1847 is modelled on the English. 16. Other Countries.—The following notes give the general terms of the copyright law in other countries of importance. For details reference must be made to See also:text-books. Foreign We only See also:deal specifically with the history and See also:par- taw ticulars of American copyright. Austria, by a law of 1895, gives copyright for See also:thirty years after author's death. Belgium. Copyright formerly perpetual, now limited to the life of the author, and 50 years thereafter. France.—Copyright in France is recognized in the most ample manner. Two distinct rights are secured by lawtst, the right of reproduction of literary works, musical compositions, and works of art; and 2nd; the right of representation of dramatic works and musical compositions. The period is for the life of the author and fifty years after his death. After the author's death the surviving See also:consort has the usufructuary enjoyment of the rights which the author has not disposed of in his lifetime or by will, subject to reduction for the benefit of the author's protected heirs if any.The author may dispose of his rights in the most absolute manner in the forms and within the limits of the See also: Code See also:Napoleon. Piracy is a See also:crime punishable by fine of not less than too nor more than 2000 francs; in the case of a seller from 25 to 500 francs. The pirated edition will be confiscated. Piracy also forms the ground for a See also:civil action of damages to the amount of the injury sustained—the produce of the See also:confiscation, if any, to go towards payment of the See also:indemnity (Penal Code, Art. 425-429). Germany.—Period fixed in 1837 at ten years; but copyright for longer periods was granted for voluminous and costly works, and for the works of See also:German poets. Among others the works of See also:Schiller, See also:Goethe, See also:Wieland, &c., were protected for a period of twenty years from the date of the See also:decree in each case. In 1845 the period was extended in all cases to the author's life and thirty years after. The present law rests on a Codifying Act of 19ot, the term being the author's life and 30 years, or not less than to years in any case. See also:Greece.—Copyright is for fifteen years from publication. Holland.—Fifty years, or author's life, whichever is longer. Hungary.—by a law of 1884, gives a copyright for the author's life and 5o years after.Italy.—Life of author, or 40 years from date of publication; and afterwards a further period of 40 years, subject to a right in others to reproduce on payment of 5 % on each copy. Japan.—Author's life and 30 years after. Norway, by a law of 1893, gives protection for author's life and 5o years after. See also: Portugal.—Author's life and 50 years after. Russia.—Author's life and 5o years. Spain.—Author's life and 8o years thereafter. See also:Sweden and See also:Denmark provide for a term of the author's lifetime and 5o years after. Switzerland.—Author's life and 30 years after. See also:Turkey.—Author's life, or 40 years, whichever is the longer. 17. United States.—American copyright is provided for by an act of March 1909, which replaced acts of July 187o and March 1891, both of which had introduced important American modifications in the original act of 1790. Under all law.acts preceding that of 1891, copyright had been granted to " citizens or residents of the United States," the term " resident " having been, in decisions See also: prior to 1891, construed to mean a person domiciled in the United States with the intention of making there his permanent abode. The works of foreigners could thus be reproduced without authorization, and they were so reproduced in so far as there was prospect of See also:financial gain. The leading publishers, however, had from the earliest times made terms with British authors, or with their representatives, the British publishers, for producing authorized American editions. But at most they were only able to secure by this means an See also:advantage of a few See also:weeks' priority over the unauthorized editions, and the See also:good-will of the conscientious buyer; so that if they paid the author any considerable sum, the price of the authorized editions had to be made so high that it was not easy to secure a remunerative sale. The unauthorized editions had the further advantage in competition, that for the purpose of being manufactured more promptly and more economically, they could be and often were issued in an abbreviated and garbled form, an injury which to not a few writers seemed more grievous than the lack of pecuniary profit. In Great Britain, during the first half of the 19th century, the copy-right law had been so interpreted as to secure recognition of the rights of American authors for such works as were produced there not later than in any other country, so that authors like See also:Washington See also:Irving and Fenimore See also:
In fiction particularly, authors had to contend against a See also:
The secretary during the active work of the league was See also: Robert U. See also:
19, 1897, establishing as the copyright See also: department of the library of See also:Congress a See also:Bureau of Copyrights, the head of which bears the title of Register of Copyrights. Eventually, after hard work by the American Authors' Copyright League and the Publishers' Copyright League, and after otAct of s sittings extending to a period of three years, a new bill 1909. submitted to Congress by the two Committees on Patents of the House of Representatives and the Senate was successfully passed. It came into force on the 1st of July 1909. Its provisions may be briefly summarized as follows: Copyright is granted to authors for twenty-eight years from the date of first publication, whether the copyrighted work bears the author's true name or is published anonymously or under Term of an assumed name. A further term of twenty-eight years (Shi. is granted to the author if at the expiration of the first coPYn term he be still living, or to his widow and children if he be dead. If the author's widow and children be dead an extension is granted to the author's executors, or in the See also:absence of a will, to his next of See also:kin. Applications for renewal and extension must be made to the copyright office and duly registered therein within one year prior to the expiration of the existing term. To any work in which copyright subsists at the time the act went into force the act extends renewal for a period of twenty-eight years at the expiration of the time provided for under the previously existing law (first period 28 years, renewal period 14 years). The works for which copyright may be secured under the act " shall include all the writings of an author." For purposes of registration the act classifies (1) books, including composite and cyclopaedic works, directories, Definition gazetteers and other compilations; (2) periodicals, includ- of copying newspapers; (3) lectures, sermons, addresses, pre- right pared for oral delivery; (4) dramatic or dramaticomusical compositions; (5) musical compositions; (6) maps; (7) works of art; See also:models or designs for works of art; (8) reproductions of a work of art ; (9) drawings or plastic works of a scientific or technical character; (to) photographs and (11) prints and pictorial illustrations. But compilations or abridgments, adaptations, arrangements, dramatizations, translations or other versions of copyrighted works, when produced with the consent of the proprietors of the copyrighted work are, under the 1909 act, new works subject to copyright. A citizen or subject of a foreign state can secure copyright only when he is domiciled within the United States at the time of the first publication of his work, or when the foreign state or nation of which he is a subject grants, either by treaty, convention, agreement or law, to citizens of the United States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to its own citizens, or copyright protection equal to that secured by the foreign author under the United States act, or when the foreign state is a party to an international agreement providing for See also:reciprocity in the granting of copyright, and the United States may, by the terms of that agreement, become a party thereto. After copyright has been secured by publication of a work, two See also:complete copies of the best edition published must be promptly " deposited in the copyright office, or mailed to the register of copyrights, the postmaster, on See also:request, giving a See also:receipt and mailing the books without cost.If the work be a contribution to a periodical, one copy of the issue containing it must be sent, or if it be a work not reproduced in copies for sale, a copy, print, photograph or other identifying reproduction must accompany the claim. Prior to 1891 the works of authors could be put into print on either side of the Atlantic. The act of 1891 laid down that, in order to secure copyright, all editions of the works of all authors, resident or non-resident, must be entirely "See also: Mann- manufactured within the United States, the term " manufacture" factured" including the setting of type as well as printing clause. and binding. This manufacturing condition was insisted on by the typographical unions. There is no logical connexion, however, between the right of an author or artist to the control of his production and the interests of American workmen; the attempt to legislate for them jointly must bring about no little confusion and inequity. If American working-men cannot secure a living in competition with labourers on the other side of the Atlantic, their needs should be cared for under the provisions of the protective See also:tariff. It is, however, the belief of a large number of those who are engaged in the manufacturing of books that, with his advanced methods of work, the skilled American labourer has no reason to dread the competition of European craftsmen. With this manufacturing condition out of the way, there would be nothing to prevent the United States from becoming a party to the Bern Convention. This would place intellectual property on both sides of the Atlantic on the same footing. The power of the unions was sufficiently strong to prevent this condition being eliminated from the act of 1909, but the just claims were met of authors whose books are originally produced in some language other than English, the " original text tExemexptio otn See also:languages other ftha book of an English Q1beinggel language from the foreign requirements as to type-setting in the United States. On book. the other hand the manufacturing condition is extended by the act of 1909 to illustrations within a book, and also to separate lithographs or photo-engravings, ` except where in either case the subjects represented are located in a foreign country and illustrate a scientific work or reproduce a work of art." The notice of copyrights required by the act consists either of the word " copy-right ' or by the See also:abbreviation " Copr.," accompanied by the name of the copyright proprietor, and in the case of printed literary, musical or dramatic works, the notice must include also the year in which the copyright was secured by publication. In the case of works specified in 6 to 1i inclusive, of the See also:classification given above, the copyright notice may consist of the letter C enclosed within a circle, thus: ©, accompanied by the See also:initials, See also:monogram, mark or See also:symbol of the copyright proprietor, provided that on some accessible portion of the copy or of the margin, or on the back or See also:pedestal his name appears.The act of 1909 gives an interim protection to a book published abroad in the English language before publication in the United Interim States, the deposit in the copyright office, not later than Int eri thirty days after its publication abroad, of one complete protec- don copy of the foreign edition, with a request for the reserva- tion of the copyright and a statement of the name and See also: nationality of the author and copyright proprietor, securing copy-right for thirty days from the date of deposit. Any person infringing Infringe- a copyright work is liable to an injunction, and to pay such went damages as the copyright proprietor may have suffered by the infringement; in lieu of actual damages and profits the courts may See also:award such damages as appear to be just, and in assessing them may, at its discretion, allow the amounts mentioned below, except that in the case of a newspaper reproduction of a copyrighted photograph such damages must not exceed the sum of two See also:hundred and fifty dollars nor be less than fifty dollars, and in no other case must the damages be more than five thousand dollars or less than two hundred and fifty dollars: (1) In the case of a See also:painting, statue or See also:sculpture, ten dollars for any infringing copy made or sold or found in the possession of the infringer or his agents or employees; (2) in the case of any work enumerated in the classification given before, except a painting, statue or sculpture, one See also:dollar for every infringing copy; (3) in the case of a lecture, See also:sermon or address, fifty dollars for every infringing delivery; (4) in the case of dramatic or dramatico-musical or a choral or orchestral See also:composition, one hundred dollars for the first and fifty dollars for every subsequent infringing performance; in the case of other musical compositions, Musical ten dollars for every infringing performance; all infringcampusi- See also:ing copies and devices must also be delivered up for de- dons. struction. The act gives full control over his compositions to a musical composer, and the right to make any arrangement or setting of it, or of the See also:melody of it. in any system ofnotation or form of record from which it may be read or reproduced. His right to control the reproduction of his music by mechanical See also:instruments is restricted (i) to See also:cover only music published and copyrighted after the act went into effect; (2) to include a musical composition by a foreign composer only in the case of a citizen of a foreign state that grants to citizens of the United States similar rights; (3) where the owner of a musical copyright has permitted the use of his work upon parts of instruments serving to reproduce the composition mechanically, permission for a similar use of such work must be accorded to any other person on the payment of a fixed royalty of two cents on each part manufactured. The act makes a clear distinction between the property in the copyright See also:Transfer and that in the material object representing the copyright, and as- and enacts that the sale or See also:conveyance of the material si anient object shall not of itself constitute a transfer of the copy- ofcopyright. Transfer of copyright in the United States is to be right. effected by an instrument in writing signed by the See also:pro- prietor of the copyright, or the copyright may be bequeathed by will. Assignment of copyright executed in a foreign country must be acknowledged by the assignor before a consular officer of the United States. Every assignment of copyright must be recorded in the copyright office within three See also:calendar months after its See also:execution in the United States or within six months without the limits of the United States. The importation into the United States is for-bidden of any piratical copies of a copyrighted book or of any copies not produced in accordance with the manufacturing fmportaprovisions of the act (although authorized by the author tbn of or proprietor), but importation is allowed to any society copyright or institution incorporated for educational, literary, works. philosophical, scientific or religious purposes, or for the encouragement of the fine arts, or to any State school, college, &c., or to See also:free public libraries, when importation is for use and not for sale. The act of 1891 allowed " two copies in any one See also:invoice " to be imported, but by. the act of 1909 not more than one copy is to be imported in one invoice. The provisions having to do with international copyright become operative in the case of a foreign state only when the president proclaims that the state has fulfilled the condition of reciprocity. The act of 1891 was put into force with foreign states as follows: 1st of July 1891, Great Britain, Belgium, France, Switzerland; 8th of March 1892, Germany (by separate treaty); 31st of See also:October 1892, Italy; 8th of May 1893, Denmark; 15th of July 1895, Spain; loth of July 1895, Portugal; 27th of See also:February 1896, See also:Mexico; 13th of April 1896, Sweden and Norway; 25th of May 1896, See also:Chile; 19th of October 1899, See also:Costa Rica; loth of November 1899, the kingdom of the See also:Netherlands.In the case of each state the territory covered by the provisions of the law included the possessions, dependencies, &c. The copyright agreement with Great Britain therefore covered the crown colonies of the empire, including See also: India and the self-governing dominions and states, such as Canada, See also:Australia, &c. An American work duly entered for copyright in Great Britain secures, as a British publication secures, the protection of copyright under the provisions of the Bern convention throughout the territory of the several states that are parties to that convention.Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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