The present is a favourable time for the consideration of this important question. The following extract from the editorial columns of the Bookseller, of May 1, is confirmatory and encouraging:—
An English author has no rights whatever in the United States; this should be thoroughly and clearly understood. He may make any arrangement he may think proper with regard to the publication of his works, but can acquire no Copyright in any way. He may wish Brown and Co. to be his sole and only publishers, but cannot prevent Jones and Co. bringing out rival editions; consequently, he can derive little or no profit from his works. By sending out early sheets, so as to give Brown a few days’ advantage over Jones, he may get a small payment, but the sum may be very small. Moreover, should Messrs. Jones have noted his coming greatness, and have been the first to announce his first book, albeit quite unknown to him, they will claim to be his publishers; and although, he may wish to give Brown the preference, they will feel themselves aggrieved and insist upon helping to make him famous. Should he go to America, and first publish his book there, he will find himself in a still worse position; he is like the notorious “Man without a Country”—he has positively no rights at all; he has none in America, and has none here. It was long supposed that an American author was in a similar position; but it is not so. By a fluke he has secured rights which he never dreamed of, and by means of our Copyright-Law, may obtain privileges denied him by his own. His plan is simply this: having prepared two copies of his MS., he places one in the hands of his Boston or New York publisher, with directions to publish on a certain day; the other he forwards to a London house, with directions to publish at the same time. Just before the day of publication, which is possibly at that time of the year when Saratoga is an abode more agreeable than the Fifth Avenue, he proceeds to the Canadian side of the Falls. Here he spends a few hours, and then returns, without encountering more inconvenience than saving his hotel expenses by buying a suit of clothes, on which he pays no duty on his return. Thereupon he finds that by so simple a process he has obtained Copyright in the United States, in the dominion of Canada, in Australia, India, France, Germany, and Great Britain! We can imagine the lively twinkle of his eye as he crosses the Suspension-bridge, to think what cute people the Britishers are to have secured all these privileges for him.
We believe, therefore, that American authors are not very anxious about the matter. By taking a little trouble, they can secure all they wish.
English authors have not been fairly treated. They are at great disadvantage, and must be satisfied for the present to work for fame, or but for little more. Fortunately for them, the American publishers, seeing that they do what they are legally entitled to do, are quarrelling amongst themselves, and are crying out for protection.
[Here is introduced the case of an American publishing-house stated by themselves, which concludes thus:—
... “A review of these facts naturally suggests the reflection that the interests of the book-trade in this country, no less than the protection of authors in their just rights, require further legislation at the hands of Congress. It is high time for the passage of a well-considered International Copyright-Law, such as will wipe away from our country the reproach of what are known as ‘pirated editions.’”]
We quite agree with this. Some legislation is called for. But now comes a third party, the public, which has its rights as well as the others. We shall very likely incur some odium for admitting that the million have any rights whatever to the productions of men of letters, and may be told that emanations of the brain are as much the private property of their authors as the guineas are of the man of business. So they are, so long as they keep them, to themselves; but when they have communicated them to the world they are no longer their exclusive property. It is right that they should have a modified protection, and we think it must be admitted that English authors are amply protected in their own country. We think, however, that the American public will not be disposed to give them the same amount of protection there, nor is it well that they should have it. They are, however, entitled to some protection, and we hope the day is not far distant when English authors will reap some solid advantages wherever the English language is spoken. We are disposed to think that seven years would generally be long enough for the purpose; although so short a time would be hard upon such men as Grote, Motley, Merivale, Webster, and others, whose lives have been spent upon their works. We take it for granted that the law, when modified, will be the same on both sides, and that Dickens and Longfellow will receive equal treatment. We are too selfish to give up our cheap editions of Longfellow, and American citizens are not what we take them to be, if they would, for a whole generation, debar themselves from popular editions of Dickens.
(From The Bookseller, June 1, 1869.)
Copyright in Canada.—Letter by the Times’ correspondent:—“Under the English Law, English Copyrights reprinted in the United States are imported into Canada, subject to the same duty as other imported articles; but these Copyrights cannot be reprinted in Canada, the consequence being that the Canadian public is almost entirely dependent on the United States for reprints. The English author is seriously injured, inasmuch as not one-tenth part of the reprints which find their way to Canada are entered at the Custom-house or pay duty.”... Mr. Rose replies:—“The undersigned is ready to admit that the principle involved is theoretically at variance with the general policy of the mother-country, in so far as the object of that policy is to secure to authors an absolute monopoly in works of literature for a term of years; but it must be remembered that the necessity for this exceptional legislation arises out of a previous partial departure from this theoretical policy, which in its practical operation is shown to afford a premium to the industrial interests of a foreign country, &c. If it could be shown that the concessions asked for would result in any way to the practical disadvantage of the author, or lessen the protection which it is intended to secure to literary labour, there might be some reason for withholding them. If the rate of duty, whether import or excise, were inadequate, it would be an equally reasonable argument against the extension of the law; and in that case the rate could be augmented. But the undersigned fails to see any reason why, so long as the importation from abroad is permitted, the publication in Canada at an equal rate of duty should be withheld.”