Page:Copyright, Its History And Its Law (1912).djvu/311

 IMPORTATION 279

In general the law prohibits absolutely the im- General portation of "piratical copies" or of works bearing prohibitions a false notice of United States copyright; it also pro- hibits, even though with consent of the author and the copyright proprietor, the importation in the case of works subject to the manufacturing clause, of any copies not manufactured in this country — but this prohibition does not apply to books in raised charac- ters for use of the blind ; to foreign-made periodicals containing authorized copyright matter; to author- ized copies of a work in a foreign language of which only an English translation has been copyrighted here; or to authorized copies published abroad when imported under specified exceptional circumstances. These exceptions permit the importation of author- Exceptions ized copies for individual use and not for sale, not pe™"t*e<i more than one copy at a time (excepting a foreign re- print of a book by an American author) ; or by or for the United States; or by or for stated educational in- stitutions, including libraries, not more than one copy at one time ; or when parts of collections or libraries purchased and imported en bloc, or of personal bag- gage. Books imported under these exceptions cannot be adduced in defense of infringements, as the law spe- cifically provides, e. g., as when such a book contains no proper United States copyright notice. Copies unlawfully imported may be seized and forfeited like other contraband importations under regulations of the United States Treasury, but it is provided that importations through the mails or otherwise may be returned to the country from which the importation is made on petition to the Secretary of the Treasury when there is no evidence of negligence or fraud. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster-Gen- eral are jointly required to make regulations against unlawful importation through the mails.