Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/393

Rh COPYRIGHT 363 acquired, held, and disposed of by an alien in the same manner in all respects as by a natural born British subject. As the latter can acquire copyright by first publication, without residence in England, and as copyright is personal property, it would seem that an alien also must have copy right without the necessity of residence. It is quite clear, at all events, that residence in any part of the British dominions not merely the United Kingdom is sufficient; but the first publication must be in the United Kingdom. But the copyright once created extends to the whole of the British dominions. Colonial copyright, however, is subject to a special Act, of the United Kingdom were protected in the colonies, and copies of them printed or reprinted elsewhere could not be imported into the colonies. At the same time books published in the colonies are not, as we have just men tioned, within the protection of the Copyright Act. By the Colonial Copyright Act, 10 and 11 Viet. c. 95, it is now enacted that when the legislative authority in any British possession makes proper provision by Act or ordinance for the protection of the rights of British authors, the Crown may, by Order in Council, suspend the prohibition against the importation, &c, of foreign reprints of English copyright books, so far as such colony is concerned, and the local Act shall thereupon come into operation. The following colonies have taken advantage of the Act : New Bruns wick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward s Island, Bermuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, St Lucia, St Vincent, British Guiana, Mauritius, Jamaica, Newfoundland, Granada, St Christopher, Antigua, Nevis, Cape of Good Hope, Natal (Shortt). In 1875 an Act was passed to give effect to an Act of the Parliament of the Dominion of Canada respecting copyright. An Order in Council in 1868 had suspended the 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. Her Majesty in Council is therefore authorized to assent to the Canadian Bill (which is printed as a Schedule to the Act) ; and it is also enacted that, after the Bill comes into operation, if an EngUsh copyright book becomes entitled to Canadian copyright, no Canadian reprints thereof shall be imported into the United Kingdom, unless by the owner of the copyright. The following points in the Canadian Act are worth noting. Any person printing or publishing an imprinted manuscript without the consent of the author or legal pro prietor shall be liable in damages ( 3). Any person domiciled in Canada, or in any part of the British Posses sions, or being a citizen of any country having an interna tional copyright treaty with the United Kingdom, who is the author of any book, map, &c., tc., 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 else where; and the Canadian privilege is not to be continued after the copyright has ceased elsewhere. And &quot; no immoral or licentious, 01 irreligious, or treasonable, or seditious literary scientific or artistic work &quot; shall be the subject of copyright ( 4). A further period of fourteen years will be continued to the author or his widow and children. An ^interim copyright&quot; pending publication may be obtained by depositing in the office of the minister of agriculture (who keeps the 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 royalty to the owner. Anonymous books may be entered in the name of the first publisher. Books published in a colony stand on the same footing, so far as the United Kingdom is concerned, as books published in a foreign country. Their protection in England depends on the International Copyright Acts. The International Copyright Acts were passed in order Tnterna- to give foreign authors the same sort of privilege as is tinl Acts accorded to English authors, on the basis of reciprocity. The principal Act is the 7 and 8 Viet. c. 12, repealing an earlier Act, 1 and 2 Viet. c. 59, and amended by 15 Viet, c. 12. Her Majesty may, by Order in Council, grant the privilege of copyright to the authors of books, &c., first published in any foreign country to be named in such order providedalway8that&quot;dueprotectionhasbeen&quot;Becured by the foreign power, so named in such Order in Council, for the benefit of parties interested in works first published in the dominions of Her Majesty similar to those com prised in such order.&quot; Different provisoes maybe fixed for different countries and different classes of works protected. No right of property shall be recognized in any book, &amp;lt;fec., first publ ished out of Her Majesty s dominions, save such as is created by this Act. Hence British as well as foreign authors first publishing abroad, have no protection in England unless there is a convention between England and the country in which they publish under the International Copy right Act. Thus in Boucicault v. Delafield, 1 the plaintiff had first performed a drama in New York, and afterwards registered it in England on the first day of its performance there, and now sought to have its unauthorized representa tion restrained. The court refused, holding that the Act 7 and 8 Viet. c. 12, 19 says in effect that if &quot; any person, British subject or not, chooses to deprive this country of the first representation of his work, then he may get the benefit of copyright if he can, under any arrangement which may have been come to between this country and the country which he so favours with his representation.&quot; If there is no such treaty or arrangement, then this country has nothing more to say to him. The publication in the British dominions of unauthorized translations of works published abroad may be prohibited by the authors for a period of five years, except in the case of political articles in the newspapers, ic Copyright in foreign works of art, prints, articles of sculpture, &amp;lt;tc., may also be protected under the conditions applicable to copyright in the same subjects in England. The right of representing in England dramatic pieces, etc., first performed abroad, may also be recognized in the same way. The authors of dramatic pieces first performed abroad may also acquire (under the 15 Viet. c. 12) the right to prevent the representation of any unauthorized translation of such dramatic pieces for a period not exceeding five years from the date of first publication or representation of an authorized translation. Section 6 of this Act contains the important exception that &quot; nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent fair imitations or adaptations to tho English stage of any dramatic piece or musical composition published in any foreign country.&quot; This clause has given great dis satisfaction, and it has been virtually repealed by 38 Viet. c. 12. 2 The right to prevent translations of foreign books 1 The same question was decided in the same way in the recent case (Nov. 1876) of the same plaintiff against Mr Chattevton for represent ing &quot; Shaugliraun,&quot; a play first broaght out by plaintiff in America. 2 The state of the law, as it is left by this Act, is worth noticing. &quot;Dy the 15 Viet. c. 12, the Queen may, by Order in Council, grant stage-right to foreign dramatists as mentioned above, and the enact ments in force for protecting domestic stage rights are available for them ; but nothing in the Act is to prevent fair imitations or adapta-
 * the 10 and 11 Viet. c. 95. Under English copyright books