A few of the supporters of the Patent-Law ask whether Copyright does not rest upon the same basis as the exclusive right to inventions, and whether the new law will not be followed in its wake by the ignoring of literary property. But against a few similarities we have a material difference in substance.
If not all, yet most literary productions bear such a marked stamp of individuality, that intellectual property cannot be contested. However it may be, the different subjects have each their own laws, and both authors and publishers we quite leave out of the question.
OPINION OF THE LEADING JOURNAL OF HOLLAND, THE “ALGEMEEN HANDELSBLAD.”
In the history of the Netherlands economy, the 22nd June, 1869, will be long remembered. Whatever shall be the decision of the First Chamber, the fact of the Law [Bill] having passed the Second Chamber by 48 yeas against 8 noes is a highly gratifying occurrence.
The chief feature in the opposition on the part of the Conservatives was the able speeches made by their leader, M. Heemskerk, in order to prove that invention confers a right of property. Without going into the merits of the case, we cannot help recording that, in the opinion of those that side with M. H., it must be a suggestive circumstance that, despite all the earnest pleading of the honourable gentleman, 48 out of 57 representatives, of men of the highest moral and intellectual standing, did vote for abolition, and still did not intend despoiling anybody of his own.
Invention is the effusion of thought, and just as thought cannot but be free, so invention must be the same.
We hope that the Netherlands will not long remain alone in this instance. At any rate, we may be proud of the overwhelming majority of men able to understand the real means of progress.
EXTRACT FROM AN OBLIGING PRIVATE LETTER.
Amsterdam, June 28, 1869.