The principle on which the court interferes is the protection of property; it requires, therefore a clear title in the party complaining, as the condition of its interference. It follows from this, that the copyright must be properly vested in the prosecutor, and that the work must be of such a nature that damages might be recovered in a court of common law for pirating it; that is, it must be a work neither of an immoral, blasphemous, libellous, nor seditious character. This, however, must be understood of its pervading tenor, not of isolated passages. The general rule appears to be, that any work containing matter against which a public indictment or private prosecution could be sustained is not protected by the law, but may be pirated with impunity; and the parties, if sued for penalties, may adduce the objectionable contents of the work to defeat the action. A remarkable exception this to the general rule of law that none shall take advantage of his own wrong; and its operation is often as remarkable, the effect of the rule being to disseminate more widely that which the law declares unworthy of regard.

Upon these dicta it has been decided that no action can be maintained for pirating a work which professes to be the amours of a courtesan; and it is no answer to the objection, that the defendant is also a wrong doer in publishing them, and that he, therefore, ought not to set up their immorality, 2 Car. & Pay. 163. An action cannot be maintained even on a bill for printing a grossly immoral and indecent work, 1 Ry. & M. 337.

In Lawrence v. Smith an injunction to restrain the infringement of a copyright in a work, as to which it appeared doubtful whether it did not tend to impugn the doctrine of the Scriptures, was refused, Jac. 471.

A voyage of discovery having been executed, a narrative of it, prepared under the order of the crown, is the property of the crown; but on a bill by the publisher, authorized by the secretary to the Admiralty to publish such narrative, the profits remaining at their disposition, an injunction, restraining the publication by a stranger, was dissolved, 3 Swanst. 687.

If the right or infringement of copyright be disputed in fact, the court will sometimes direct an issue to be tried at common law, and finally sustain or dissolve the injunction according to the result of that trial.

IX. PREROGATIVE COPYRIGHTS.

The copyright of certain works is exclusively vested in the crown, for different reasons. 1. The queen, as the executive magistrate, has the right of promulgating to the people all acts of state and government this gives her the exclusive privilege of printing, at her own press, or that of her guarantees, all acts of parliament, proclamations, and orders of council. 2. As head of the Church, she has a right to the publication of all liturgies, and books of

divine service. 3. She has a right, by purchase, to the copies of such law books, grammars, and other compositions, as were compiled or translated at the expense of the crown. And upon this last principle the exclusive right of printing the translation of the Bible has been maintained. 4. And, lastly, almanacks have been said to be prerogative copyrights, either as things derelict, or else as being substantially nothing more than the calendar prefixed to the liturgy; but the patent for this has been declared voil, and prerogative copyright may be said generally to rest on doubtful grounds.

The most important of these exceptional copyrights is that of the Holy Scriptures. In England the exclusive right of printing Bibles is enjoyed by the queen's printer, concurrently with the two universities; in Ireland, the monopoly of the queen's printer is shared with Trinity College; in Scotland, the whole was in the hands of the queen's printer till 1838, when the patent expired, and the right of printing was vested by the crown in a board of commissioners.

Any infringement of the copyright of works vested in the universities of England and Scotland, or Trinity College, Dublin, or the colleges of Eton, Winchester, and Westminster, subjects the piratical copies to forfeiture, and a penalty per sheet.

X. NEWSPAPER PROPRIETORS AND PRINTERS.

By 6 & 7 W. 4, c. 76, a separate die is to be used by each newspaper, and the title to be printed on supplements; and publishing supplement without newspaper, penalty £20. Declaration to be made of the title, printer, publisher, and principal proprietors, prior to the printing of a newspaper; if false or defective, a misdemeanor, or printing without such declaration, penalty £50. Titles of newspapers and names of printers and publishers to be entered in a book open to inspection. Copies of newspapers to be delivered to the stamp office on penalty of £20, and may be produced in evidence. Names of printer and publisher, place of printing, day of the week, month, and year of publication, to be. printed at the end of every paper and supplement; penalty £20. Printers, &c., of newspapers not to supply others with stamp s Discovery of proprietors or printers may be enforced by bill.

The description of a newspaper under 6 & 7 W. 4, c. 76, is partly repealed, and the 16 & 17 V. c. 71 provides "that no paper containing any public news, intelligence, or occurrences, shall be deemed to be a newspaper within the meaning of the said act, or of an act relating to the stamp duties on newspapers, unless the same shall be published periodically, or in parts or numbers at intervals not exceeding 26 days between the publication of any two such parts or numbers."

To prevent the dispersing of papers of an irreligious or seditious character, the 39 G. 3, c. 79 requires that the name of every printer, type-founder, and maker of printing-presses, shall be entered with the clerk of the peace, under a penalty of £20. Also every person selling types or presses must, if required by a justice of the peace, give an account to whom they are sold.

By 1 W. 4, c. 73, securities may be demanded to the amount of £400 or £300 to secure the payment of any damages and costs that may be incurred in an action for libel published in any newspaper.

By 2 V. c. 12, the printer of every paper or book intended for publication, is required to print upon the front of the same, if printed on one side only, or upon the first or last leaf of every paper or book consisting of more than one leaf, his name, place of abode, and business; penalty for omission, £5, and the like penalty for dispersing any such publication without the imprint; exceptions in favour of the presses at the universities. But no action for penalties can be instituted except in the name of the attorney or solicitor general for England, or the queen's advocate in Scotland.

In Bensley v. Bignold, it was decided a printer cannot recover for labour or materials used in printing any work, unless he has affixed his name to it pursuant to the act, 5 B. & A. 335. An action for work and labour cannot be brought for printing a work distributed weekly, as a newspaper, unless the printer have complied with the provisions of the statute, 1 Taunt. 142.

By the custom of trade, a printer is not entitled to recover for printing a work until the whole is completed and delivered, 1 Taunt. 137.

In 1855 the duty on newspapers was abandoned; and under 18 V. c. 27, newspapers, except for the purpose of free transmission by the post, need not be printed on paper stamped to denote the payment of a penny postage. Periodical publications printed on stamped paper denoting the duties are entitled to the same privileges of free transmission and retransmission by post as newspapers, subject to like regulations as to size, &c. Periodicals must be posted within fifteen days after publication. If not posted in conformity with the act, subject to the letter rates of postage. A periodical is defined to include a newspaper, and every printed literary work published periodically, or in parts or numbers at intervals not exceeding thirty-one days.

CHAPTER XVI.

Patentees and Inventors.

A RIGHT of patent, or the exclusive privilege of making and disposing of a new invention for the period of fourteen years, is secured

226

PATENTEES AND INVENTORS.

by the 21 Jac. 1, c. 3; and most probably it was this statute which suggested to the Legislature under Queen Anne the first law for the limitation of copyright.

One By 5 & 6 W. 4, c. 83, amended by 2 & 3 V. c. 67, an attempt was made to obviate some of the defects of the patent laws, and better to secure the rights of inventions and discoveries. hardship of the former system was, the destruction of all right to a patent which resulted from an inadvertent claim put into any part of an invention that might not actually be new, although that circumstance should be unknown to the inventor; and even although the part claimed should be a small and unessential portion of the This defect was obviated, and a patentee who finds new invention. he has been anticipated in some portion of his invention, may diselaim that portion, and still retain his exclusive privilege in the remainder. If a patentee have reproduced some old invention, believing himself to be the inventor, a power was vested in the crown A patentee is to continue the patent of the patentee, when it appears that the invention had not been publicly and generally used. protected from vexatious actions questioning the validity of his patent, the certificate of the judge who tried one action operating as a bar to future suits. Lastly, an important advantage was given by the power vested in the crown, of extending, on the recommendation of the privy council, the term of a patent from fourteen to Under the old law a valuable patent often twenty-one years. expired just about the time the difficulties attending its first introduction had been surmounted, and it was beginning to be profitable to the inventor.

Under this

In 1852 the patent laws were further amended, the facilities for obtaining letters patent for inventions extended, and the law respecting them materially altered, by 15 & 16 V. e. 83. act a commission is constituted, consisting of the lord chancellor, the master of the rolls, the attorney and solicitor general for England, the attorney and solicitor general for Ireland, and the lord advocate and solicitor-general for Scotland for the time being, with such other persons as her Majesty may appoint from time to time; a commission of whom three may act, the lord chancellor or the The commission is empowered to master of the rolls being one. make regulations, which are to be laid before parliament, and they are required to report to parliament annually.

The act provides that every petition for the grant of letters patent, and the declaration required to accompany such petition, shall be left at the office of the commissioners; and there shall be left therewith a statement in writing (the provisional specification) signed by or on behalf of the applicant, describing the nature of the invention. The application is then to be referred to one of the law officers of the crown, who is at liberty to call to his aid such scientific or other person as he may think fit, and to cause remuneration to be paid to such person. The law officer, if satisfied, may

give a certificate of allowance, and thereupon provisional protection is extended to the invention for six months. The inventor, however, may deposit in lieu of a provisional speculation a complete specification, and such deposit will confer for six months the like rights as letters patent, but will not invalidate letters patent granted to the first inventor. The letters patent must be taken out before the expiration of the provisional protection, or the inventor will lose his right to them. They are to be valid for the whole of the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man; but fees will have to be paid for recording the patent in the court of Chancery in Scotland. The commissioners are to cause applications to be advertised, also oppositions and protections. Letters patent for foreign inventions are not to continue in force after the expiration of the foreign patent; nor are patents for British inventions to prevent the use of such inventions in foreign ships resorting to British ports, except the ships of foreign states in whose ports British ships are prevented from using foreign inventions.

The act further provides that the commissioners are to cause indexes to be made of specifications, disclaimers, and memoranda of alterations heretofore or to be hereafter filed, which may be printed and published; and a register of patents, and also a register of proprietors, are to be kept, to be opened at convenient times to the inspection of the public under regulations.

Prerogatives of the crown saved in respect of the grant of letters patent. If letters patent be destroyed or lost, other letters patent may be issued. Specifications to be filed instead of being enrolled. In case of infringements, courts of common law may grant injunctions. Account of salaries, fees, and compensations to be laid before parliament.

The fees payable, which are enumerated in the schedule, have been considerably reduced. Provisional protection for six months may be had for £15; the letters patent will cost £10 more, making £25. Then £50 additional is payable at or before the expiration of the third year, and £100 more at or before the expiration of the seventh year, making £175 in all. But these payments are not to do away with the necessity of paying to the law officers of the crown, in cases of opposition and disclaimer, and memoranda of alterations, such fees as may be appointed by the lord chancellor and master of the rolls, and of reasonable sums for office copies of documents.

Parts of sections 28 and 33 of the 15 & 16 V. c. 83, which required an extra copy of drawings to be left with a specification, are repealed by 16 & 17 V. c. 115. By s. 2, copies of provisional specifications are to be open to public inspection at the commissioners' office. A copy of every specification under the hand of the patentee or applicant to be left at the office. Lord chancellor, in certain cases, may seal letters patent after the expiration of pro