The act provides, at the same time, against the suppression of books of im portance to the public, by empowering the judicial committee of the Privy Council, on complaint made to them that the pro prietor of the copyright in any book, after the death of its author, refuses to republish or allow the republication of the same, to license the complainant to publish the book, in such manner and subject to such conditions as the Privy Council may think fit.
The remedies provided by this act for infringement of copyright are, an action for damages (in which the defendant is required, on pleading, to give notice to the plaintiff of the objections to the plain tiff's title on which he means to rely), and a power given to the officers of customs and excise to seize and destroy all fo reign reprints of books in which copyright exists, with a penalty on the importer (if he be not the proprietor of the copyright) of 104 and double the value of every copy of any book imported, on conviction before two justices of' the peace ; Si. of the penalty to go to the officer of customs or excise who shall procure the convic tion, and the remainder to the proprietor of the copyright.
The act provides that a book of registry be kept at Stationers' Hall, where entries may be made of proprietorships of copy right, assignments thereof, licences of the judicial committee, and agreenv its as to copyrights subsisting at the tine of the passing of the act, on payment in each case of a fee of 5s. The 2ntry of pro prietorship of copyright in this hook does not affect copyright; but no action can be brought for infringement of copyright, nor any other legal proceedings taken, unless the proprietorship of copyright has been entered. The entry of an as signment in the registry book is to all intents and purposes an effectual assign ment. § 13. Certified and stamped copies of entries in the registry book are to be evidence in all courts of justice, and are to be taken as primd fade proof of copy right. The making of a false entry in the registry book, or the production in evidence of any paper falsely purporting to be the copy of an entry therein, is made a misdemeanor. Persons thinking themselves aggrieved by any entry in the registry book, may apply to a court of law in term time, or a judge in vacation, for an order to vary or expunge such entry ; and such court or judge may make an order for varying, expunging, or confirming such entry, with or without costs.
It has been said that the exclusive pro perty of authors in their manuscripts has always been recognised by the law. But as this principle only prevented the print ing or circulating copies of them without the licence of the owner, it has been found necessary to provide for the peculiar pro tection of the authors of dramatic and musical compositions. The 3 Will. IV. c. 15, entitled An Act to amend the Laws relating to Dramatic Literary Pro perty,' and known as Sir Bulwer Lyt ton's act, after reciting the 54 Geo. III. c. 156, provided that the author of any dramatic piece, not hitherto printed or published by authority of him or his as signs, should have as his property the so.e liberty of representing it, or causing it to be represented, at any place of dramatic entertainment ; and the author or assig nees of any such work, printed and pub lished within ten years before the date of the act, should have the same privilege, for twenty-eight years from publication, and for the remainder of the author's life, if he lived longer; the penalty for violat ing these enactments to be enforced by ac tion for damages, with double costs, to be brought within twelve months from the commission of the offence. The 5 & 6 Viet. c. 45, has extended the term of the sole liberty of representing dramatic pieces to the period provided by that act for the copyright of books, and gives the same protection to the authors of musical pieces and their assigns. The remedies provided by the 3 Will. IV. c. 15, in the case of dramatic pieces are confirmed by the 5 & 6 Vict. c. 45, and extended to musical pieces. The 5 & 6 Vict. c. 45, also enacts that no assignment of the copyright of any book consisting of a dramatic piece or musical composition shall convey the right of representing or performing such dramatic piece or musical composition, unless an entry, expressing the intention that such right should pass by the assignment, be made in the registry book at Stationers' Hall.