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Colony like this, summed up in my Memorandum of July 27, 1870, on the Colonial Office. Circulars of 1st and 2nd June, 1870.
The conditions of successful exclusion or protection seem to be:-
1. A prompt registration in the Colony of the work to be protected;
2. The imposition of a highly protective duty on foreigu reprints of copyright works
duly registered; and
3. Stringent regulations for enforcing that duty.
With all these conditions fulfilled, the importation of foreign reprints will be greatly checked; and, as scarcely any reprints are now imported, except works of fiction, the result will probably be that cheap American novels will supersede English novels, an exchange which neither morally, socially, nor politically will benefit Bermuda.
It may be doubted whether any system of literary protection will ever perfectly auswer its purpose which does not embrace as a primary condition the distinct announce- ment on the title-page of the book of its being a foreign reprint; but of course nothing short of International Conveutions could secure this.
The reciprocity between the United Kingdom and the Colonies offered by the draft Bill is perfect in theory, but will obviously be very far otherwise in practice.
I presume that the only clauses of the measure which affect a Colony situated as Bermuda is, are the 8th and 14th, which leave it open to the local Legislature to adopt measures for enforcing, in certain cases, a restrictive duty on foreign reprints, or at least a compensatory duty for the benefit of the owner of the copyright.
This scheme does not materially differ from that of the Bermuda Act for the Protec- tion of the British Author passed in 1848, which Act, it must be acknowledged, has proved utterly ineffective.
It seems to me that the system of compensation proposed by that Act would have been more effectual if the holder of the copyright had been left to register his work in the Colony on his own responsibility, and if the protection of the Act had only extended to works so registered. The proprietor in that case would have no cause to complain if foreign reprints were imported before registration. But as long as Government under- takes the duty of furnishing lists of copyright works there is a probability that the importation into these islands, which at the best is very small indeed, will be always a little in advance of the reception of the lists here.
Although the scheme proposed seems to be theoretically complete enough, it is not easy to see how Revenue officers can be kept sufficiently informed of the titles of books entitled to protection. The importer can of course be easily rendered legally and penally responsible for smuggling books, or any other articles of commerce; but with respect to literary property, the practical check on the importer's accuracy must always be very slight.
Let the system be ever so perfect in itself, or well adapted to the Empire at large, it may be feared that in Bermuda the duty must be either so light as to afford no real compensation, to the holder of the copyright, or so heavy as to hold out an inducement to smuggling; and in either case the trouble of collecting it must be out of all proportion to the resulting benefit to the copyright holder.
But I see no reason to believe that the local Legislature would hesitate to second the wishes of Her Majesty's Government with respect to this difficult subject, or to adopt any scheme which promised adequate protection to the owners of copyright works. At all events, there are no pecuniary interests to be conciliated or which will deter the Legisla- ture from giving any reasonable protection to the British author and publisher, or warp its judgment in dealing with the subject.
As the details which are to affect this Colony are to be contained in a local Act, there are no parts of this Bill which call for any special suggestions from me.
I bave, &c.
(Signed)
. BROWNLOW GRAY.
His Excellency Major-General Lefroy, C.B.,
Governor and Commander-in-chief, Bermuda.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
C.O.885
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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