INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT. As already stated, copyright is a matter of only national and local concern. The granting of copyright by one na tion to the productions of citizens of another has resulted as a slow development from influences that first began to have effect about the begin ning of the nineteenth century. (For a histori cal treatment of this, see LITERARY PROPERTY.) At the present time many of the leading States of Europe have granted international copyright, mostly under specific conditions of time or place of publication. In Great Britain, the copyright law now in force is in substance that of 5 and 6 Victoria, c. 45. The international provisiom4 are contained in the acts of 1844. 1S52. 1875. 1886. and the order in council of 1887, confirming the Bern convention. The decision given in June, IS91, by the law officers of the Crown that citi zens of the United States could secure copyright throughout the territory of the British Empire by compliance with the provisions of the British statute, enabled President Harrison to include Great Britain in the proclamation of July 1, 1891, in the list of States the citizens of which could secure copyright in the United States under the act of March, 1891. The term is for the life of the author and seven years, or for forty-two years from the date of first publication. which ever may be the longer. The Privy Council is given the authority to license the republication of books which after the death of the author the owner of the copyright may have declined to keep in print. There seems to be no record of editions of any honks having been bronght into the market under this authority of the Privy Council. The law provides that a copy of the first and of each subsequent edition of every book must be sent, on demand, to the following libraries: The British Museum in London. the Bodleian in Oxford. the University Library in Cambridge, the Library of the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh, and the Library of Trinity College in Dublin.
The term for art copyright is fixed, under the net of 38 George ITT., at twenty-eight years. Copyright in a dramatic production is protected for the same term, of forty-two years (or for the life of the author and seven years), as that ac corded to a work of literature. The copyright in letters vests in the writer, except in so far as any particular circumstance may give to the person to whom the letter is addressed, or to his representatives, a right to publish the Name. The perpetual copyright of the authorized versions of the Bible and of the Book of Common ]'raver (and possibly, adds Stephen, in the text of nets of Parliament) is vested in the Crown. A per petual copyright in books first issued by the fol lowing institutions (unless such books came into the control of the institutions for lint a limited term) is vested in the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Saint Andrews, and Aberdeen. and also in each college of the uni versities of Oxford and Cambridge, in Trinity College, Dublin, and in the colleges of Eton, Westminster, and Winchester. The book of reg
istry of copyrights is kept at Stationers' There is no obligation to make registration, ex cepting that such entry must be made before the owner of the copyright is in a position to take action in regard to any alleged infringement. A bill for the reshaping of the British copyright act, known as the Monkswell Bill, is now (190:3) on the calendar of the House of Lords. It was originally introduced in November, 1886, at the instance of the British Society of Authors. It was reintroduced, with some material modifica tions, in 1900. Under this bill. the' term of right is extended to the life of the author and thirty years.
The provisions controlling copyright in Ger many, including Alsace-Lorraine, date from 1871. The statute of June 19, 1901, now in force. made no material changes in the condition, of copy right. but instituted detailed regulations for the relations of authors and publishers, covering the Verlagsrecht. There are Aso acts of January 9, 1876, for sculpture, and January 10. 1876, for photographs. The copyright relation, with the United States are defined in the convention of January 15. 1892. The term is for the life of the author and for thirty years thereafter. Copy right registry for the Empire is kept in Leipzig. The protection of thQ law is afforded to the works of German citizens, whether published inside or outside of the Empire. Under this same law, the works of aliens receive protection provided that they are published by a firm doing business with in the Empire. In Italy literary copyright rests upon the statute of September, 1882. The term is for the life of the author and for forty years after his death, or for eighty years from the publica tion of the work. In Austria the term of literary copyright is thirty years after the author's death. In Belgium copyright (formerly perpet ual) is now limited, under the law of 18:36, to the life of the author and fifty years thereafter. In Holland, under the law of 1881, the term is for fifty years from the date of publication. In Hungary the term is the life of the author and fifty years. In .Japan. under the law of March 3, 1899, the term is the life of the author and thirty years. In Russia the term is for the life of the author and fifty years. In Spain, under the act of 1879, the term is for the life of the author and eighty years.
The United States International Copyright Act has greatly narrowed the beneficial operation of the law by a provision that a foreign book or lithograph to secure its benefits must be manu factured in this country. Consult: Copinger. Lau. of Copyright in Works of Literature and Art (3d ed., London. 1893) ; .`Scrutton, Lams of Copyright (3d ed., London, 1896) ; Drone. Treatise on the Lairs of Property in intellectual Productions ( Boston, 1879) ; Thc Imw of Copyright ( London and New York. 1302) ; Birrell, Livturcs on Copyright (London and New York, 1901).