LITERARY PIRACY.
An injunction was obtained on Tuesday, on application to the Master of the Rolls, at the instance of Mr. Bentley, the publisher, of New Burlington Street, against a person of the name of Jean Baptiste Balliere, to prevent him from dis- posing of certain publications in this country, of which the copyright is vested in Mr. Bentley. The publications in question are said to he printed in Paris.— Morning Herald.
IT is manifest that the Copyright Act is of little use, if works on which the authors have bestowed great labour, and the publishers have expended large sums, can be printed in Paris and imported into this country for sale. All that the piratical bookseller has to furnish is print, paper, and binding : he can therefore ufford to sell his edition at a small fraction of the price which the purchaser of the copyright must require in order to repay himself for his out- lay. One of the "certain publications" mentioned in the paragraph we have taken from the Herald, is Miss EDGEWORTH'S Hden ; for which, of course, Mr. BENTLEY must have given the authoress a considerable sum ; and the injury inflicted upon him by the pirate is proportionally great.
It would seem to be a very simple matter to put a stop at once to frauds of this description, which are now of frequent occurrence. An arrangement might be entered into to extend the operation of Copyright Acts among all civilized nations; so that authors and publishers might derive the full benefit of the sale of their %works, wherever printed or published, in the original language at least. If this regulation can be established, the author and the fair trader in every country will be benefited, and the fraudulent dealer only be restrained. The present time seems the best possible for bring- ing about some such arrangement. Europe is now at peace, or at any rate the different Governments profess to be on friendly rela- tions with each other; and there can be nothing objectionable even to the most jealous and despotic potentate in the reciprocal advantages that an universal copyright act would secure. It would in fact be little more than an extension of that understanding, now pretty generally acted upon, by. which persons accused of crimes, not political, are given up to the officers of justice of their respective countries, for trial and punishment.
Previous page
