PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ENGRAVINGS.— Paintings, Drawings, Photographs.—Until the enactment of the Fine Arts Copyright Act, 1862, the authors of paintings, drawings, and photo graphs had no copyright in their works. By that Act, however, such authors and their assignees in respect of works not sold or disposed of before the 29th July 1862, obtained the sole and exclusive right of copying engraving, reproducing and multiplying such " painting or drawing, and the design_thereof, or such photograph, and the negative thereof, by any means and of any size." The term of the copyright thus conferred was expressly limited to the natural life of the author, and seven years after his death, but now this term is extended by the COPYRIGHT (q.v.) Act, 1911, to fifty years from the making of the original negative. In many cases a painting or drawing, or the negative of a photograph, is sold or disposed of, or made or executed for or on behalf of some person (the " sitter" in the case of a photograph) other than the author, the latter receiving some kind of payment or remuneration. Here the author does not retain his copyright, " unless it is expressly reserved to him by agreement in writing, signed at or before the time of such sale or disposition by the vendee or assignee of such painting or drawing, or of such negative of a photograph, or by the person for or on whose behalf the same shall be so made or executed." But a vendee or assignee is not entitled to the copyright unless, at or before the time of the sale or disposition, a written agreement to that effect has been signed by the seller or person disposing of it, or by his duly authorised agent. Accordingly, if such a work is sold or disposed of, and there has been no express written disposition or reservation of the copyright therein, it would then exist without the privilege of copyright. This statutory copyright does not, however, prevent the representation of the same subjects in other works, for the Act expressly provides that nothing therein contained shall prejudice the right of any one to copy or use any work in which there is no copyright, or to represent any scene or object, notwithstanding that there may be copyright in some representation of it. And copyright under the Act is also declared to be personal estate, and as such capable of legal assignment. But every
assignment must be in writing, signed by the proprietor of the copyright, or by his agent appointed for that purpose in writing ; and so must every licence to use or copy a design or work which is the subject of copyright. The Copyright Act, 1911, which has repealed sects. 1 to 6 and 9 to 12, and part of sect. 8 of the Act of 1862, having been passed and published whilst this edition was passing through the press, it will be necessary to refer to it (obtainable from the King's Printer for 3d.), and to the Act of 1862, in order to ascertain the exact position of the law on this subject. This article must therefore be read subject to that statute.
Infringement.—Certain penalties are imposed in respect of infringement, the relevant section of the Act running as follows :— If the author of any painting, drawing, or photograph in which there shall be subsisting copyright, after having sold or disposed of such copyright, or if any other person, not being the proprietor for the time being of copyright in any painting, drawing, or photograph, shall, without the consent of such proprietor, repeat, copy, colourably imitate, or otherwise multiply for sale, hire, exhibition, or distribution, or cause or procure to be repeated, copied, colourably imitated, or otherwise multiplied for sale, hire, exhibition, or distribution, any such work or the design thereof, or, knowing that any such repetalon, copy, or other imitation has been unlawfully made, shall import into any part of the United Kingdom, or sell, publish, let to hire, exhibit, or distribute, or oiler for hire, exhibition, or distribution, or cause or procure to be imported, sold, published, let to hire, distributed, or offered for sale, hire, exhibition, or distribution, any repetition, copy, or imitation of the said work, or of the design thereof, made without such consent as aforesaid, such person for every such offence shall forfeit to the proprietor of the copyright for the time being a sum not exceeding tell pounds; and all such repetitions, copies, and imitations made without the consent as aforesaid, and all negatives of photographs made fur the purpose of obtaining such copies, shall be forfeited to the proprietor of the copyright.