The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-06-14 00:00:00

THE LAW Oil COPYRIGHT.

In London, on Monday evening, at a meeting of the
National Association for the Promotion of Social
Science, held in their rooms, 1, Adam-street, Adelphi,
a paper was read by Mr. J. Leybourne Goddard "On
the Law of Copyright, with special reference to the
term for the duration thereof, and the Report of the
late Royal Commission with reference thereto." Sir
Travers Twiss, Q.C., took the chair.
Referring to the fact that the Commissioners who
reported in May, 1878, were not unanimous in their
recommendations, Mr. Goddard, who was secretary
to the Commission, said he appeared as an advocate
of the viewi- put forward kr Sir Louis Mallet in a
separate report, in which thPee other Commissioners
cencurred, with regard to the term for copyright.
Sir Louis Mallet, instead of the existing terms of
copyright, or that which was proposed in substitu-
tion for them, suggested as the term a fixed number
of years, to be reckoned from the date of regis-
tration. As it was proposed to establish a system
of compulsory registration, the act of registration,
which would almost invariably be performed as soon
as a work was published, or as soon as protection was
needed, seemed an appropriate commencement for the
right. In the case of books, 50 years appeared to be,
in present circumstances, a suitable time for a work to
be protected but he was not disposed to recommend
any extension of the terms of protection afforded by
the existing laws to other works which were the sub
ject of copyright, as he thought that the tendency of
legislation should be rather towards greater freedom
than towards greater restriction. Among the argu-
ments put forward in favour of this suggestion, it was
pointed out that the term was sufficiently long to give
an author or artist a prospect of adequate remunera-
tion, whether he happened to live long or to die
early ; that the greatest certainty would exist as to
facts—whether a work was copyright, when the copy.
right began, in whom it was vested, and when it would
terminate'—and the information would be obtainable
with the greatest ease and at nominal cost; the exces-
sive difference in the case of the works of different
authors which would spring from the adoption of the
proposed term of life and 30 years, as proposed, would
ba avoided; and, lastly, no exceptional terms would
be required, either for anonymous works or works
published after the author's death for encyclopmdias,
for photographs, engravings, or similar works, or for
works produced by firms or companies.
The chairman said he thought a great deal was to be
said in favour of Sir Louis Mallet's proposal as re.
garded the two principles of registration and certainty
in the term of the duration of copyright. These two
points seemed to him important considerations in pre-
paring the way for au international copyright
law. The principle of registration seemed to have
commended itself to the younger members of the
family of nations—the United States and Canada—
and to some extent this was a strong argument in
favour of its adoption, With regard to the term, Sir
Travers Twiss said that, as a sentimental objection
might be raised to the possibility of the copyright
expiring during the lifetime of the author, he would
suggest 60 instead of 50 years for the duration of the
right. _

In the discussion which followed a majority of the
speakers appeared to be in favour of a fixed term
dating from the registration of the subject of the
copyright.