Page:Copyright, Its History And Its Law (1912).djvu/670



In order to obtain the recognition of the copyright of a work, it is indispensable that the author or his assigns or legitimate representative, shall address a petition to the official department which each Government may designate, claiming the recognition of such right, which petition must be accompanied by two copies of his work, said copies to remain in the proper department.

If the author or his assigns should desire that this copyright be recognized in any other of the signatory countries, he shall attach to his petition a number of copies of his work equal to that of the countries he may therein designate. The said department shall distribute the copies mentioned among those countries, accompanied by a copy of the respective certificate, in order that the copyright of the author may be recognized by them.

Any omissions which the said department may incur in this respect shall not give the author or his assigns any rights to present claims against the State.

The authors who belong to one of the signatory countries, or their assigns, shall enjoy in the other countries the rights which their respective laws at present grant, or in the future may grant, to their own citizens, but such right shall not exceed the term of protection granted in the country of its origin.

For the works composed of several volumes which are not published at the same time, as well as for bulletins or installments of publications of literary or scientific societies or of private parties, the term of property shall commence to be counted from the date of the publication of each volume, bulletin, or installment.

The country in which a work is first published shall be considered as the country of its origin, or, if such publication takes place simultaneously in several of the signatory countries, the one whose laws establish the shortest period