Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/395

Rh COPYRIGHT 365 The following statements regarding copyright in other European countries are abridged from Copinger s Law of Copyright (London; Stevens & Haynes, 1870) :-- Prussia. Copyright endures for the author s life, and his heirs have a terra of thirty years from his decease. When a copyright is assigned without any special stipulation, the publisher cannot issue more than one edition without the author s written permis sion. He may issue a reprint, on paying the author half the sum paid for the first issue. Austria, by treaty with Sardinia, Tuscany, and the Papal States, gives copyright for thirty years after author s death. Holland and Belgium. Copyright formerly perpetual, now limited to the life of the author, and twenty years thereafter. Denmark and Sweden. Copyright formerly perpetual, now limited to thirty years in the former and twenty in the latter ; if . 11 i, i T A f -1~l - j_ _ J-1- _ _.j__ j. _ more if an edition is published within five years of the end of the first term. 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 German poets. Among others the works of Schiller, Goethe, Wieland, &c., were protected for a period of twenty years from the date of the decree in each case. In 1845 the period was extended in all cases to the author s life and thirty years after. Greece. Copyright is for fifteen years from publication. United States. The first legislation on the subject of lite rary property in the United States appears at the close of the revolution. In 1783 laws were passed by Connecticut and Massachusetts securing to authors for specified periods the exclusive property in their literary productions, and prescrib ing penalties for its violation. Similar laws were passed by Virginia in 1785, by New York in 1786, and by other States. Under this system it was necessary for authors, in order to enjoy the benefits of protection in States other than that in which they resided, to copyright their works in each State having such laws. Authors rights therefore depended on the legislation in the several States, as there was no national law relating to copyright. In order to afford to literary property, as well as to useful inventions and discoveries, adequate protection throughout the (Jnited States by a general law, the Federal Constitution, which came into force in 1789, empowered Congress &quot;to promote the pro gress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.&quot; Pursuant to this provision the first copyright law of the United States was passed, May 31, 1790, entitled &quot; An Act for the Encourage ment of Learning by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned.&quot; This statute gave to authors, who were citizens or residents of the United States, their heirs and assigns, copyright in maps, charts, and books for fourteen years, and provided for a second term of the same duration, if the author should be living at the expiration of the first. The penalty prescribed for publish ing, importing, or selling a book in violation of the Act was forfeiture of copies to the author or proprietor, &quot; who shall forthwith destroy the same,&quot; and the payment of 50 cents for every sheet found in possession of the offender, one-half to go to the author or proprietor, and the other Lalf to the United States. The Act also provided a remedy against the unauthorized publication of manuscripts belonging to citizens or residents of the United States. In 1802 the provisions of the Act of 1790 were extended to &quot; the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints.&quot; In 1831 the several Acts relating to copyrights were amended and consolidated by a general law, which extended the term of protection from fourteen to twenty-eight years, with provision for a renewal for fourteen years to the author, his widow or children. Musical com positions were now for the first time expressly provided for, being placed upon the same footing as books. In 1856. was passed the first statute for giving to dramatists the exclusive right of representing their plays in public, and in 1865 photographs and negatives were declared subjects of copyright in the same manner as books, engravings, &c. All statutes relating to copyright were repealed by the general law of 1870, which, with an amendment passed in 1874, now regulates the entire subject. This law may be found in the revised statutes of the United States of 1873, and the amendment in the statutes at large of 1873-74. The term of protection is the same as that under the Act of 1831. To the subjects of copyright protected by previous statutes were added paint ings, drawings, chromos, statues, statuary, and models or designs intended to be perfected as works of the fine arts. Every author or owner, native or foreign, of an unpublished literary composition or work of art has-exclu- sive property therein at common law. Before publication, he may make of it any use which does not interfere with the rights of Bothers. &quot;When the work is published the owner s common law rights are lost. The author or proprietor of a manuscript, if a citizen or resident of the United States, has also a statutory remedy for damages against its unlicensed publication. In 1834 was contested in the Supreme Court of the United States the same question which had been so elaborately argued in the English case of Millar v. Taylor, decided by the Court of King s Bench in 17G9, and finally settled by the House of Lords five years later in Donald son v. Becket, viz., whether copyright in published works exists by the common law, and is therefore of unlimited duration, or is created by and wholly governed by statute. The Supreme Court, following the authority of the House of Lords, held that there was no copyright after publication except for the limited term given by the statute. Of the seven judges four concurred in this conclusion, two delivered elaborate dissenting opinions, and one was absent. This judgment has since continued to be the supreme law. The policy of the American Government in relation to foreign authors has been far less liberal than that of England. No special arrangement for international copyright, such as subsists between Great Britain and many Continental countries, has been entered into between the United States and any foreign Government. While a foreigner in the United States is entitled to common law protection for his unpublished works, his rights after publication are deter mined wholly by statute. The question concerning the status of a foreign author under the copyright laws, as well as of a citizen who derives title from a foreigner, is freed from much of the doubt and difficulty that have surrounded it in the English courts. While Parliament from the reign of Anne to the present time has legislated for the benefit of &quot; authors,&quot; leaving to the courts to determine whether that general language is applicable to all authors or is limited to those of Great Britain, the American Congress, in all its legislation for the encouragement of literature from the Act of 1790 to that of 1870, has extended protection only to such author as may be a &quot; citizen of the United States or resident therein.&quot; Thus by express words is a foreigner excluded from the benefits of the statute. This language has nevertheless given rise to some discussion as to who may be regarded as a &quot; resident.&quot; That word has been judicially construed to mean any person domiciled in the United States with the intention of making there Lis permanent abode. Neither naturalization nor a formal declaration of such intention is required. No definite period of time and no specific acts are indicated as necessary to constitute such residence. The question is to be deter mined by the intention of the person at the time of record ing his title, while his abode is in the United States,