The Copyright Bill passed through the Committee stage in the
House of Lords on Tuesday and Wednesday with scarcely any alterations. The principal discussion was in connexion with the copyright of articles in newspapers and periodicals. Hitherto the state of the law has been doubtful, but the Bill gives the copyright to the author, except in cases where there is a contract of service, when it belongs to the proprietor of the paper. It was suggested that this would be unfair to the author, for a man who was paid £300 a year might produce articles which the proprietor could republish at a profit of £10,000. Lord Haldane pointed out, however, that it would be most unjust if a journalist, after entering into a solemn contract with a newspaper to act as war correspondent at its expense, could then republish his articles immediately afterwards. We may add that in the case of an unsigned article it is frequently the practice for an editor to suggest to the contributor not merely the general subject but detailed points in the article, and after its completion if it proves unsatisfactory to rewrite it to a large extent. In such a case it is surely only fair that the copyright should rest with the newspaper.
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