Page:The copyright act, 1911, annotated.djvu/53

 Rights. 41

111 addition to the above-mentioned civil remedies for § 2 (2).

infringement, sects. 11 to 13 contain provisions for the

seizure and destruction of infringing copies, and the ^"^^^^yy

��punishment of offenders by line ui^on summary conviction.

Existing law. — The existing law in relation to acts constituting ini'riugemeut, and the con3efj[uent right of the proprietor of the copyright to recover damages in respect thereof, is very vague and ill defined.

The effect of the statutes as interpreted by case law is probably as follows : —

It is an infringement of copyright in the case of —

(1) Books—

(a) To multiply copies of the whole or any substantial

part (6).

(b) To impoit for sale or hire any work which infringes

copyright under (a) {<■).

(c) To import for sale or hire a foreign reprint (that is to say,

a copy made outside the British Dominions) (*/).

(d) To import into the United Kingdom copies printed in

Canada of any book which has been copyrighted under the Canada Cc} yright Act (c).

(e) Knowing a book to have been unlawfully made or im-

ported, to sell, publish, or expose the same for sale or liire, or to possess it for sale or hire (/). Further, all works unlawfully printed or imported are deemed to be the property of the proprietor of the copyright, and after making a demand in writing he may recover the same from any jjerson who has them in his possession, or if he has had them and sold them, damages for conversion. This provision, which is con- tained in sect. 23 of the Copyright Act, 1842, has been held to apply to infringements where part only of a work is copied and emboditd as part of another work {(j), and if this decision is correct the limi- tations as to knowledge in the case of (d) are in eif ect removed, and the proprietor of the copyright can sue any person for damages who has sold infringements, whether with or without knowledge. By reason of this provision it is also an actionable wrong to distribute infringing copies, although done innocently and gratuitously. It is an infringement of copyright in the case of —

(2) Paintings, drawings and j^hotographs (//) —

(a) To make any copy of the work or of any part thereof for

sale, hire, or distribution.

(b) To import or sell, publish, let to hire, exhibit or dis-

tribute or offer for sale, hire or exhibition, or distribu- tion any copy of the work or of any part thereof made without the consent of the proprietor of the copyright.

[b) Copyright Act, 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45), ss. 2, 15.

[c) Sect. 15.

[d) Sect. 17.

{e) Canada Copyright Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 53), s. 4.

(/) Copyright Act, 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 45), ss. 15, 17-

(ff) Boosei/v. JJltMjht (No. 2) (1899), 81 L. T. 265.

[h) Fine Arts Copyright Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 68), ss. 6, 11.

��proceedings

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