Page:The copyright act, 1911, annotated.djvu/62

 £>0 Copyright Act, 1911.

§ 3. ought to hold, in consonance with the general scheme of

• the Act, that the proviso in sect. 3 is equally applicable.

Where the author who dies last survives the author who (lies first by fifty years or more, there is no period of un- assignable copyright. Where the author who dies last survives the author who dies first by more than twenty- live years (or in the case of w^orks in wdiich copyright subsists when the Act is passed, thirty years), but less than fifty years, the period of unassignable copyright is the residue of tlij© fifty years remaining after the death of the author who dies last. Where the author who dies last survives the author who dies first by less than twenty- five years (or in the case of works in which copyright, subsists when the Act is passed, thirty years), the period of unassignable copyright is twenty -five years (or in the case of works in which copyright subsists when the Act is passed, twenty years). Application of It is submitted that the jiroviso in sect. 3 has no appli- photoffi-aphs cation to photograjjhs, or to records, perforated rolls, &c. or records. These are specifically dealt with in sections 21 and 19 I'espectively. A literal construction of the Act does not bring them within the proviso, and there is nothinj^ to show that there was any intention to apply the proviso to such works ; and as the period of copyright is fifty years from the making of the work, and has no iielation to the duration of the author's life, the proviso would be in- appropriate to the subject-matter . Further, the " author " of a photograph or record may be a corporation, and in such a case the proviso would not only be inappropriate, but would be wholly inapplicable.

Existing law. — Under existing law there are different terms of copyriglit for different classes of work as follows : —

Books — Forty-two years from first jjublication or antkor's life and seven years, whichever period shall prove the longer.

Books bequeathed or given to a university, &c. — Perpetual copyright.

Paintings, drawings, and photographs— Aiithor's life and seven years.

Engravings — Twenty-eight years from date of first publication.

Sculpture -Fourteen years from date of first publication, with a further period of fourteen years if at the expiration of the first term the person who originally made or caused the woi'k to be made is alive, and has not parted with the copyright.

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