The remedies for unlawful copying granted by the Act are of two kinds : (a) penalties and (b) damages. As already stated, no penalty can be recovered for any such infringement committed before the copyright has been regis tered, but damages may be obtained in the case of copies which are made before registration and sold afterwards. The maximum penalty which can be obtained under the Act is i.c) for each unlawful copy, together with the forfeiture by the infringing party to the proprietor of the copyright of all such copies. Formerly, this provision of the Act was interpreted to mean a payment of a coin of the realm for each unlawful copy, and on this basis large sums were form erly obtained in the case of unlawful reproduction in a newspaper of large edition. But a later judgment of the Court of Appeal has held that it is not necessary to fix the total penalty at a sum which, when divided by the number of copies, works out to a coin of the realm. When taking action for penalties it is only necessary to prove the infringement. The photographer must show that the copyright is his property by virtue of the fact that he took the photograph without payment in the original instance, or that it was assigned to him in writing at the time of taking, or that he had subsequently purchased it. In action for recovery of damages he must prove not only his ownership of the copyright, but the damage sustained by the infringement.
Where a registered photograph has been reproduced without permission, it is an easy matter to obtain satisfaction from the offending party, but when the photograph has not been registered the owner of the copyright needs to proceed with some care. He should first register the photograph immediately, and he is then in a position to take such action against the parties still producing, or those selling, the copies as will induce the infringer to settle the matter privately. Very frequently the infringement is
the result of ignorance or carelessness, and it is usually good practice to assume that it is so, and to write pointing out the infringement and to ask what the party in question is prepared to do. In this letter it is not wise to name any specific sum which would be acceptable to the photographer. Where the infringement is clearly unintentional, many photographers are prepared to accept twice (or even the same) the fee payable had application for the use of the photo graph been made by the publisher.
Copyright, created and registered in England, is secured ipso facto in the other countries sub scribing to the Berne Convention of International Copyright. These countries are as follow : Algiers, Belgium, Denmark and the Faroe Islands, France and its colonies, German Empire, Hayti, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Luxem burg, Monaco, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Tunis. Under this Convention the photo grapher in each country must comply with the formalities of his country (the country of origin), and he obtains in the other countries the degree of protection which is granted to natives in these countries. The degree of protection varies within wide limits among civilised countries. In France, for example, protection is granted only to such photographs which are adjudicated to be works of art, and it would appear that judgment in this respect must be given in regard to each particular photograph, apart from the reputation of the photographer as an artist. In some countries—Germany and Belgium, for example—it is not necessary to register, and therefore it is difficult to discover whether the formalities in the country of origin have been complied with in these cases. In Great Britain —and, indeed, whenever there is any doubt —the safest course is to assume that copy right exists in any photograph, painting, or drawing. G. E. B.