1014
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 30TH OCTOBER, 1886.
The Delegates of the other States represented at the Conference, whilst expressing the sympathy of their Governments for the objects of the Convention, had not received authority to sign the Final Act.
In this document the Delegates agree upon, and recommend for the consideration of their Govern- ments, a draft Convention, an Additional Article, and a Protocole de Clôture, and express the hope that the same may be accepted, and that the Diplomatic Representatives may, within the delay of twelve months, be instructed to sign it on behalf of their Governments. It was decided that the draft Convention now submitted is to be regarded as a definitive basis of the Copyright Union, not subject to amendment, but to be accepted or declined as it stands by any Power.
Provision has, however, been made in the XVIIth Article for periodical revisions of any points which may eventually require attention; but any such ulterior modifications will only become binding by the unanimous consent of the Contracting States.
Practically, therefore, the International Copyright Union may be said to be established on the basis of this draft Convention, which will undoubtedly be signed within the next twelve months by several of the States represented at the Conference.
The broad principle of the Convention is that each of the States of the Union shall accord to the other States composing it the advantages of national treatment, under the conditions specified in the Convention.
The main points to which we invite the attention of Her Majesty's Government are as follows
1. Duration of Copyright.
The provisions on this head which are contained in the laws of various countries differ so consi- derably, both as to the mode of determining the period and as to the extent of protection accorded to various kinds of copyright property, that it was universally recognized from the outset to be impos- sible, without a complete international codification of Copyright Law, to adopt any definite term as the basis of an International Copyright Union. It was admitted that any attempt at such a codifica- tion at the present moment would be premature, and Article II of the draft Convention therefore stipulates that the owners of literary and artistic property belonging to any State of the Union, or their legal representatives, shall enjoy in every other State thereof the same protection as is granted to natives, such protection, however, not to exceed that granted in the country of origin; the object of this latter stipulation being that, when copyright in any work has expired in the country of origin, it shall no longer exist elsewhere.
2. Place of Origin.
Under the conditions stated above, it is obviously essential to be able to decide clearly and readily what is the country of origin of the work.
To give an example: the duration of copyright in Spain is for the life of the author and eighty years after his death; in France, life and fifty years; in Belgium, life and twenty years.
If protection under the Convention were claimed for a work of French origin in Spain, the dura- tion would be for the life of the author and fifty years after his death, the maximum period granted in France; but if the protection were claimed in Spain for a work of Belgian origin, the duration would be for the life of the author and twenty years, the maximum allowed by Belgian law.
If, however, protection were claimed in Belgium for works of Spanish or French origin, the duration would in each case be for life and twenty years according to Belgian law.
The draft Convention framed last year determined the place of origin according to the nationality. of the author. We, however, considered that this method would occasion great difficulty in practice, not only in regard to cases where the nationality of the author might be doubtful, but in the numerous instances where works may be first published in one country by a native of another country. We therefore proposed the principle which has been adopted in Article II viz., that the country where the work is first published is considered the country of origin; and in case of simultaneous publication in two or more countries, the country in which the shortest term of copyright is granted by law.
This plan will, we believe, afford a ready means of deciding the point in every case.
3. Title to Copyright, Registration, Deposit, &c.
The only principle upon which an International Copyright Union can apparently be founded with any chance of success is that the title to copyright shall be acquired in all States of the Union by the simple accomplishment of the formalities required by law in the country of origin.
The Royal Commission of 1878 recommended the abolition of the obligation at present imposed by British law for the registration and deposit in Great Britain of foreign works claiming protection The deposit of foreign works in the British Museum was declared by the Principal Librarian to be valueless, and it was pointed out that the only countries which still required this formality of registration and deposit of foreign works were England and Spain. The latter country has since abolished this condition, and England therefore remains the only country which still clings to it.