Page:Indian Copyright Act 1847.djvu/4

620 and shall be the property of such author and his assigns: Provided always, that if the said term of seven years shall expire before the end of forty-two years from the publication of such book, the Copyright shall in that case endure for such period of forty-two years; and that the Copyright in every book published after the death of its author, and after the passing of the Act of Parliament last aforesaid, 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 manuscript, from which such book shall be first published, and his assigns.

II. And whereas it is expedient to provide against the suppression of books of importance to the public: It is enacted, that it shall be lawful for the Governor General in Council, on complaint made to them that the proprietor of the Copyright in any book published after the passing of this Act within the said Territories, has, after the death of its author, refused to republish, or to allow the republication of the same, and that by reason of such refusal, such book may be withheld from the public, to grant a licence to such complainant to publish such book in such manner and subject to such conditions as they may think fit, and it shall be lawful for such complainant to publish such book according to such licence.

III. And it is hereby enacted, that a Book of Registry wherein may be registered, as hereinafter enacted, the proprietorship in the Copyright of books and assignments thereof, and licences affecting such Copyright, shall be kept in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of India for the Home Department, and shall at all convenient times be opened to the inspection of any person on payment of Eight Annas for every entry which shall be searched for or inspected in the said book, and that such Officer shall, whenever thereunto reasonably required, give a copy of any entry in such book, certified under his hand, to any person requiring the same, on payment to him of the sum of Two Rupees, and such copies so certified shall be received in evidence in all Courts and in all summary proceedings, and shall be primâ facie proof of the proprietorship or assignment of Copyright or licence as therein expressed, but subject to be rebutted by other evidence.

IV. And it is enacted, that if any person shall wilfully make,