Mr. White to Mr.
Foster.
Legation of
the United States,
London, November 16, 1892.
(Received November 28, 1892.)
No. 838.]Sir: Referring to the Department’s instruction
numbered 656, of December 9, last, with respect to the refusal of copyright
in Canada to citizens of the United States, I have the honor to inclose
herewith the copy of a note which I have just received on the subject from
the Earl of Rosebery, in reply to that which Mr. Lincoln addressed to the
Marquis of Salisbury on the 9th of January last, and of which a copy was
transmitted, in his dispatch No. 594 of that date, to your predecessor.
I also inclose herewith a copy of the British international copyright act
(1886) referred to in Lord Rosebery’s note.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure in No. 838.]
The Earl of Rosebery to
Mr. White.
Foreign
Office,
November 12,
1892.
Sir: Her Majesty’s Government have given the
most careful consideration to Mr. Lincoln’s note of the 9th of January
last relative to the refusal to grant registration of copyright in
Canada to citizens of the United States.
Before an answer could be returned to that communication it has been
found necessary to institute a thorough and exhaustive inquiry into the
exact bearing of the
[Page 241]
Imperial
and Canadian laws upon copyright and to communicate at some length with
the Dominion authorities upon the subject.
I regret that some delay has thus occurred in replying to Mr. Lincon’s
communication, but I have now the honor to state to you as follows:
A work simultaneously first produced in the United States and in Canada
by a citizen of the United States is entitled to copyright in Canada by
virtue of Section 8 (1) of the international copyright act, 1886, of
which I have the honor to inclose a copy.
My predecessor has already assured Mr. Lincoln, in his note of the 16th
June, 1891, that residence in some part of Her Majesty’s Dominion is not
a necessary condition to an alien obtaining copyright under the English
copyright law.
If registration cannot be effected in Canada under section 8 (1) (a) of the international copyright act, 1886, any
person, whether a British subject or an alien, whose work has been first
published in Canada, can entitle himself to a remedy against
infringement by registering at Stationers’ Hall, in London, under the
English copyright act.
I have, etc.,
