COPYRIGHT LAW.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1504, 29 July 1912, Page 5

COPYRIGHT LAW.

NEW' AUSTRALIAN' BILL.■ ■ • -.•■■ ■ r,\ ~n,i| . ii, i','i- ■ v_.it.)! ■ By Tclecra-ph—Press Association—CooyriEhl Melbourne, July 27. Tlie Copyright Bill has been introduce in the Senate. It repeals the existing leg islation, and makes the British Act o! 1908 applicable to Australia. It further provides that copies madi outside of Australia of a work which i: they were made in Australia would in fringe the Copyright Act shall, if th< owner desires, be treated as a prohibitec import. The Bill also provides for reciprocal copyright with o.ther Dominions no adopting tho British Act. Tho penaltioi are increased from £2 to. .£SO for 'eacl copy of a work infringed. The term "book" includes every part oi book,'pamphlet, or sheet of letterpress map, plan, or chart. PROVISIONS OF THE BRITISH ACT. Tho main, object of the British Copyright Act passed last year is to carry out tho decisions of tho Berlin Convention of 1908, and to codify and consolidate the entiro law of copyright in his Majesty's dominions. , , ■ The Act is not to apply to the self-gov. erniug colonics unless adopted by them. It contains provisions by which reciprocity of copyright may be established between England and foreign countries. "Copyriglit" under the now measure subsists in every original dramatic, musical, and artistic ; work, if (a) In the caso of a published work the work was first published in his Majesty's dominions; and (b) In the case of an unpublished work, tho author was at tho date of tho making of the work a British subject, or resident within his Majesty's dominions. Copyright'as defined by tho Act means the "sole right to produce or reproduce the work or aiiy substantial part thereof in any material -form whatsoever, and in any languago; to perform, or, in the case of a lecture, to deliver, tho work or any substantial part thereof in public, or 'jf the work is unpublished, to publish the work." ' . , Ono of the most important provisions of tho Act is that which- deals with the term of copyright, and materially alters the former, law. The uew provision is that the term of copyright should be Hie life of tho author, and a period of 50 years after his death. To safeguard the interosts of tlie public, this rulu is subject to certain restrictions which givo only n, limited species of copyright from 25 years after the author's death. Compulsory licenses to publish may abo be granted'if it bo proved that the owner of the copyright is unduly withholding some work from the public by refusing to republish. ... i .v The author ot a work is m general the first owner of the copyright, and no registration or enrolment of any kind is rcriuirccl - All assignments, however, must bo made in writing. Copyright is-not infringed bv a newspaper summary of uny work, or lvr the reading i.n public of' any reasonable extract from a published work. . The first Commonwealth Copyright Act was passed in 1905. Its principal feature \va<= to provide copyright during the life of the author and seven years thereafter, nr forty-two years from publication, whichever period bo the longer. CowrMit subsisted in every book, whether the author be a British subject or not, which had been printed from typo ret up in Australia, nf plates, etc., made therefrom, iiiid had been published in Australia before or simultanoously with, its publication clsewlwvo.