THE COPYRIGHT OF DESIGNS BILL: THE AMENDMENT OF LITERARY COPYRIGHT.,
Ma. EMERSON TENSEST'S Copyright of Designs Bill, which was abandoned last year in consequence of the early break-up of the session, is again before the House of Commons, with some modi- fication, as well as some extension and improvement. The modi- fication conaists of a restriction of the copyright in designs for
calico-printing to nine months instead of twelve as formerly pro- posed, the present protection being only three ; but woven articles are still to have acopyright of a year. In the way of extension, it places designs in wood, glass, and china, paper hangings, with carpets and shawls if woven, on the same footing as designs in metal; giving them three years, whereas they have now only one. The improvements of the bill consist in consolidating into one short act the existing laws upon the subject ; prescribing a uniform and earn: mode of registration ; and giving a simple remedy for the infringement of copyright, either by summary proceeding before a magistrate, or by action.
The essential difference between Mr. Sergeant TaLrouim's bill on literary copyright and this proposal of Mr. TENSEST is, that Mr. TENSEST proposes a practical remedy to a practical evil, with- out any unsettling retrospective clauses, or any undue favour to ex- clusiveness; for if a man has a right to the benefits of his inge- nuity at all, he certainly has a right to it for nine months. Mr. TENSEST'S object is also distinctly attained, so far as it goes ; which was not the case with Sergeant TALFOORD'S ; for, although professing that his only view was to benefit the families and poste- rity of authors, he never would take any step to effect his professed purpose ; so that either author or single successor could at any time defeat the avowed end of the bill.
Against the principle of the extension proposed by the Copyright of Designs Bill we have never seen a single valid objection : all that the proposers of the change desire to attain is an exclusive use of an invention that has been produced or paid for, for one entire season, after which it is to be at the service of anybody. The sum and substance of the arguments against it is, that certain manufac- turers have been hitherto reaping without sowing, and wish to con- tinue that profitable process. Nor, as we remaked last year when treating the whole subject at length, is it possible to peruse the arguments in favour of the Policy of Piracy, before the Committee of the House of Commons and elsewhere, without being revolted by the total want of the sense of justibe, not to say honesty, which its advocates displayed—" Quterenda pecunia primum eat; virtue post numunos." The pretended anxiety for the foreign trade is of this nature. In many countries the patterns are already fixed : any attempt to improve them is to risk the sale, as the people doubt the genuineness of the article. In more civilized places, it is not so much the particular pattern, as the quality, price, and general style, that determine the sale ; all which are left untouched.
In favour of the bill generally it may be said, that its tendency is to enable us to compete with France, our only rival, in the only way in which she rivals us, design. It ia true the additional six months, making a total protection of nine months, is not a very great bonus to art, but still it is what a certain class of Reformers used to call "a move in the right direction." At present, on the whole, we excel the world in producing a cheap and homely article.: France, as we formerly observed, excels every nation in design, and where taste is concerned, forces her way despite of duty or prohi- bition. But we have only begun to give a public education to our artists for designs in manufacture, and the copyright of their inven- tion is three months : in France, public schools of design have long been established, and copyrights are given for five, ten, or fifteen years, or even for life. On looking at the details of the bill, there are a few things which seem upon the surface anomalous,—such as the little time which calico prints are protected in comparison with printed paper hang- ings; for though paper hangings are more enduring than cotton dresses, &c., we should suspect piracy is chiefly to be dreaded in the excellent patterns that have a permanent run—in the hits, not in the failures. This, however, is an argument for an extension of the protection to the calico-printer. The nature of the summary jurisdiction to be given to the magistracy seems to require some modification, unless there are reasons for its adoption that do not suggest themselves. Mr. TENSEST proposes to give the aggrieved party a remedy by action, or by summary process before two justices, who may fine to the extent of 30/. for one infringement, and as high as 100/. for several, and if we read rightly, without ap- peal. The necessity of a summary proceeding we readily admit ; but so large an amount of tine, for a first offence, is one that ought never to be trusted to a couple of justices, especially without appeal from their decision. A hundred, or even thirty pounds, is not so much a fine to deter from offence, as a sum of the nature of damages ; which it is the province of a jury to award, as well as to determine the fact of piracy in nice cases. It may be that a jury is a rough sort of instrument, only reaching to an approximate correctness ; yet a jury, with the arguments of the bar, the charge of the judge, and the publicity of the court, is a better tribunal in a case of da.. wages and disputed fact than a brace of provincial justices of the peace. At all events, the amount of the fine should be restricted, and a power of appeal given for a first offence : if a person persist in repeating the particular piracy, then be might with propriety be more heavily mulcted, and without appeal. It should be added, that the amounts in the printed copy of the bill are merely filled in, to be fixed in Committee.
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