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1018 THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 30TH OCTOBER, 1886.
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it is intelligible upon long study, it is in many parts so ill-expressed that no one who does not give such study can expect to understand it." The Commissioners proceeded to state that one of their most important recommendations was, that the law should be reduced by codification to an intelligible and systematic form, with such amendments in the substance as might be required.
We venture respectfully to express our entire concurrence in this recommendation, and we desire to urge the importance of taking the present opportunity of effecting this much-needed legislative reform. The principles we desire to suggest for such legislation may be shortly stated as follows:-
The repeal of the whole of the existing Statutes, and the enactment of a simple and perspicuous measure embracing the following points:--
(a.) The duration of copyright for all kinds of literary and artistic property to be uniformly fixed at the life of the author and thirty years after his death.
(b) Registration and deposit of works published in the United Kingdom to be maintained. (c.) Registration and deposit of foreign works in the United Kingdom to be abandoned.
(d.) The right to translate, dramatize, or abridge to be reserved exclusively to the author for the whole time of copyright in the original work.
(e.) Power reserved to Her Majesty by Order in Council to conclude Copyright Conventions with any foreign Power which may give such copyright protection to British subjects as may appear satisfactory to Her Majesty.
We venture to recommend to your Lordship's attention a draft scheme prepared by Mr. F. R. Daldy, which is designed to embrace the above points, and which would, we think, form a very convenient basis for a Bill to be prepared by the Government draftsman. (See Inclosure in No. 39.)
It may be observed that if our suggestions in regard to the right of translation should be thought to go too far, the reservation to the author of the exclusive right of translation for a period of ten years from the date of publication would suffice to meet the requirements of the International Con- vention. This period was, however, fixed as a minimum, and was not designed to impede the progress of legislation on a more liberal basis.
If however, Her Majesty's Government should not think proper to undertake the complete réform of British Copyright Law which we suggest, it might be possible to allow Great Britain to enter the Union by a simple amendment of the existing International Copyright Acts, 7 & 8 Vict., cap. 12, and 15 & 16 Vict., cap. 12.
All the sections in these Acts which relate to registration and deposit of foreign works, and to the right of translation, would require to be amended. Provision must be inserted in the amending Act to meet the stipulations of Articles II, III, and IX of the draft Convention; and the wording of section 14 of the Act 7 & 8 Vict., cap. 12, would perhaps require alteration as to the grounds on which an Order in Council can be issued.
Although we have thought it right to indicate the nature of the amendments in the existing law which would, we believe, enable Great Britain to join the Union, we cannot conceal from your Lordship our opinion that such a mode of proceeding would be far from satisfactory.
It would leave untouched the grievances in the domestic law now complained of by British owners of copyright property, and the anomalies apparent in regard to colonial copyright. British Copyright Law would still remain to the foreigner a sealed book, and even with the most careful amendment, some portions of it might be found to conflict with the International Convention.
On these grounds, therefore, we beg, in conclusion, to urge upon the serious consideration of Her Majesty's Government the importance of a complete codification and amendment of Copyright Law, which, if carried out during the course of the next Session, would enable Her Majesty's Government to become one of the original Signatory Powers of the Convention for the creation of an International Copyright Union.
We have, &c.
(Signed) F. O. ADAMS.
J. H. G. BERGNE.
Inclosure 2 in No. 58.
(Translation.)
Final Act of the Second International Conference for the Protection of Literary and
Artistic Works.
THE Undersigned, Delegates of the Governments of Germany, Spain, France, Great Britain, Haïti, Honduras, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, and Tunis, empowered to take part in the second International Conference for the protection of literary and artistic works, which