XVIII INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT CONVENTIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS property WITH the growth of civilization, the practice of pro- International tecting in all countries the property of the citizen of protection of any other country has also grown, until it is now a generally recognized principle. This principle, applied to literary property, has resulted in international copyright among most civilized nations. tection tion The first provision for international copyright, Early copyaside from the ancient practice in France of giving right proprotection to authors of other countries who published their works therein, was made by Prussia in 1837, in a law which provided that any country might secure copyright for its authors in Prussia to the extent of reciprocal privileges granted by that country. England followed, in 1838, with an "act for securing Early Engto authors, in certain cases, the benefit of interna- lish protectional copyright," which empowered the Queen, by an Order in Council, to direct that the author of a book first published in a foreign country should have copyright in the United Kingdom, on certain conditions, providing that country conferred similar privileges on English authors. The act of 1844 extended this privilege to prints, sculpture and other works of art, and provided for international playright. It expressly denied the privilege, however, to translations of foreign works, and it was not until 1852 that provision was fully made for translations of books and of dramatic compositions, the latter with the proviso that "fair imitations or adaptations" of foreign plays or music might be made. In this early period Great Adhesion to Berne convention Britain negotiated treaties with the German states (1846-55), France (1851), Belgium (1854), Spain (1857), and Sardinia (1860), afterward extended throughout Italy. The treaties generally included a proviso that duties on books, etc., imported into the treaty country, should not be above a stated sum, and in the case of France there was to be no duty either way. The domestic copyright acts had also provided, on the condition of first publication in the United Kingdom, a practical measure of international copyright. The international copyright act of 1875 repealed the exception as to plays, and authorized the protection of foreign plays against imitation and adaptation. Under these international copyright acts, registration at Stationers' Hall, at a fee of one shilling only, was made a condition of the copyright of foreign works, and the deposit of a copy of the first edition and of every subsequent edition containing additions or alterations at Stationers' Hall, for transmission to the British Museum, was required, besides other local formalities, particularly in connection with the limited protection of translations, which was for five years only. Great Britain became a signatory power of the Berne convention of 1886, and the international copyright act of 1886, amending and in part repealing the previous international copyright acts, was passed to enable Her Majesty through Orders in Council to become a party to this convention, which was ratified in 1887. This was made effective with respect to the eight other countries which were parties to the original Berne convention by the Order in Council of November 28, 1887, taking effect December 6, 1887. The provisions of 1886 made registration and deposit unnecessary for foreign works which had complied with the formalities requisite in the country of origin, but it was nevertheless held in Fishburn v. Hollingshead, in 1891, by Justice Stirling, that a foreign work must comply with the provisions of the copyright acts applicable, as to registration and delivery, to works first produced in the United Kingdom, since a foreign work was entitled only to the protection afforded to natives. In Hanfstaengl v. Holloway, in 1893, Justice Charles took the opposite view, and he was supported by the Court of Appeal in Hanfstaengl v. American Tobacco Company, in 1894, which decided finally that the acts of 1842 and 1844 were repealed as to foreign works and that registration and deposit of a foreign work were unnecessary. The decision of the Court of Appeal in 1908, in Sarpy v. Holland, that notice of reservation may be in foreign languages, confirmed the provisions that no formalities beyond those in the country of origin were requisite. convention With the development of the International Copy- Effect of right Union, through the Berne convention of 1886, Berne copyright relations between the leading countries became more largely and truly international, and most of the existing treaties of the unionist countries were superseded by the international convention proper. In accordance, however, with the terms of the convention, treaties broader than the provisions of the convention might still remain in force or be later negotiated between one country and another, and such conventions, on the "most favored nation" basis or otherwise, have in fact been negotiated, especially by Germany, within the present century. The arrangement for protection of foreign works in unionist and other countries, under special treaties, will be found in succeeding chapters on copyright in foreign countries, where treaties broader than the international convention or made since 1900 are also scheduled. The main features of international International literary congresses copyright arrangements are tabulated in condensed form in the conspectus of copyright by countries given in the preliminary pages. At the time of the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1878, the French Société des Gens de Lettres issued invitations for an International Literary Congress, which was held in Paris, under the presidency of Victor Hugo, commencing June 4, 1878. From this came the Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale, which held subsequent congresses at London in 1879, at Lisbon in 1880, at Vienna in 1881, at Rome in 1882, at Amsterdam in 1883, at Brussels in 1884, and at Antwerp in 1885, at which the extension of international copyright was discussed and advocated. Fundamental The Congress at Antwerp, in 1885, ratified the proposition following proposition: "The author's right in his work constitutes an inherent right of property. The law does not create, but merely regulates it." Preliminary official conference, 1883 Partly at the initiative of this association and at the invitation of the Swiss government, a preliminary conference of official representatives of the several nations was held at Berne in September, 1883, at which the following draft, submitted by the International Literary and Artistic Association, was substantially adopted as the basis for a general convention on the part of civilized nations: "1. The authors of literary or artistic works published, represented, or executed in one of the contracting States, shall enjoy, upon the sole condition of accomplishing the formalities required by the laws of that State, the same rights for the protection of their works in the other States of the Union, whatever the nationality of the authors may be, as are enjoyed by natives of the States. "2. The term literary or artistic works comprises books, pamphlets, and all other writings; dramatic Propositions and dramatico-musical works; musical compositions, of 1883 with or without words, and arrangements of music; drawings, paintings, sculptures, engravings, lithographs, maps, plans, scientific sketches, and generally all other literary, artistic, and scientific works whatsoever, which may be published by any system of impression or reproduction whatsoever. "3. The rights of authors extend to manuscript or unpublished works. "4. The legal representatives and assignees of authors shall enjoy in all respects the same rights as are awarded by this convention to authors themselves. "5. The subjects of one of the contracting States shall enjoy in all the other States of the Union during the subsistence of their rights in their original works the exclusive right of translation. This right comprises the right of publication, representation, or execution. "6. Authorized translations are protected in the same manner as original works. When the translation is of a work which has become public property, the translator cannot prevent the work from being translated by others. "7. In the case of the infringement of the above provisions, the courts having jurisdiction will apply the laws enacted by their respective legislatures, just as if the infringement had been committed to the prejudice of a native. Adaptation shall be considered piracy, and treated in the same manner. "8. This convention applies to all works that have not yet become public property in the country in which they were first published at the time of coming into force of the convention. "9. The States of the Union reserve to themselves the right of entering into separate agreements among |