Kinematograph year book (1944)

122 The Kinematograph Year Book. COPYRIGHT. Under the Copyright Act, 1911, the owner of a literary or dramatic work has the sole right to make a kinematograph film or other contrivance by which the same may be mechanically performed, and to authorise such acts. Before the Act it was held that there was no such right [Karno v Pathi Frires, 100 L.T. 260). Infringement is doing without the owner's consent anything which conflicts with the owner's rights. It includes selling, or letting for hire, or by way of trade exposing or offering for sale or hire, or by way of trade exhibiting in public or importing for sale or hire any work which infringes copyright or would do so if the work had been made in the country where infringement takes place. It also includes the case of a person who, for his private profit, permits a theatre or place of entertainment to be used for the public performance of a work without the owner's consent unless the person so doing was not aware and had no reasonable ground for suspecting that it was an infringement. Copyright lasts during the life of the author and fifty years after his death. In the case of photographs, it is fifty years from the making of the original negative. All transfers or licences must be in writing and signed by the owner or his agent. The author cannot assign his copyright for longer than twentyfive years after his death. A compulsory licence can be obtained twenty-five or thirty years after the author's death, but this provision cannot apply before 1936 at the earliest. The Privy Council has the power to grant a compulsory licence at any time after the author's death if it is proved that the work has been published or performed in public, and the present owner of the copyright has refused to allow republication, etc., so that the work is in effect withheld from the public. An employee or apprentice does not acquire the copyright in work he does for his employer. Where a photograph is taken at the order of the sitter, who pays for it, he, and not the photographer, is the owner. It is a criminal offence to infringe copyright knowingly, and the offender is liable to a fine up to 40s. for every copy, but not more than £50 for any one transaction. In the case of second or subsequent offences, the justices can send the offender to prison for two months without the option of a fine, and in all cases may order the copies to be destroyed. No criminal charge under the Act can be brought more than six months after the act complained of. In civil proceedings the usual remedy is an injunction, but the defendant is also liable for damages unless he proves not merely that he did not know of the copyright, but also that he had no reasonable grounds for suspecting its existence. For example, if a kinema proprietor hires a film to show at one hall, he is liable for damages if he shows it at any other place (Fenning Film Service v. Wolverhampton, etc., Cinemas [1914] 3 K.B. 1171). Where the alleged infringement is such that the Court would not protect it as an original work (e.g., on the ground of indecency), the owner of the copyright cannot sue under the Act, but can claim damages for defamatory representation of his work (Glyn v. Western Feature Film Co. [1916] 1 Ch. 261). The proper way to prove a film is to call someone who has seen it shown and not to produce the film unless some point turns on the film itself.