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C( 
 
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J. Sdhr 
 
 TO 
 
 SIR JOHN ROSE, BART., K.C.M.G., 
 
 ON TIIK 
 
 CANADIAN 
 
 Copyright question. 
 
 RV 
 
 ariuo iMciubcrs; 
 
 OF Tiir, 
 
 NATIVE BOOK TRADE. 
 
 London, August 15. 1872. 
 
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 THE CANADIAN 
 
 Copyright Question. 
 
 Tc the Hon. SIR JOHN ROSE, Bart., K.C.M.G.,&c.&c. 
 
 Sir John, 
 
 It may be claimed as a no little gratifying 
 feature in the history of Canada that the intellectual 
 wants of the Canadian Dominion call for such attention 
 and consideration as they do at the hands of the mother 
 country. It must, however, have long been a cause of 
 regret to every Canadian that the state of the copyright 
 law in the country has been so unsatisfactory and anoma- 
 lous ; and that, from a misapprehension of fact, and from 
 the impblitic'conservatism of British publishers and states- 
 men, the Canadian people have been long and continuously 
 charged with following ** crooked paths " in the matter of 
 literature and its supply. 
 
 The Imperial concession of 1847, admitting American 
 reprints of F^nglish copyrights into Canada, has recently 
 been severely commented upon by British publishers and 
 by several English authors ; and that privilege, granted 
 to Canada in \new of her geographical proximity to the 
 United States, where the unauthorised reprints were manu- 
 factured, as well as in consideration of her educational and 
 intellectual requirements, is now conceived by English 
 publishers to be abhorrent to their sense of what is due 
 to the British copyright-owner, while the Imperial Act has 
 jurisdiction in Canada, detrimental to their interests, and 
 a concession which should never have been made — more 
 particularly' so as its concession in 1847 has opened the 
 
r I 
 
 *i 
 
 door, under the altered industrial condition of the country 
 now, to the demand for a further and graver concession — 
 the privilege, legally, to reprint in the country under an 
 excise duty in the interest of the copyright-owner. 
 
 In whatever light that concession may be regarded by 
 the English book trade, it is folly now to denounce or to 
 dream of cancelling it, unless some satisfactory substitute 
 for its privileges may be made to the people of the 
 Dominion. 
 
 The educational necessities and intellectual life of 
 Canada to-day are keener and more urgent than at the 
 period of the concession ; and while the geographical 
 divisions of the United States and Canada blend into each 
 other, the trade relations between the peoples are of the 
 most intimate character, and commercially interwoven. 
 Hence, in any discussion of the state of the native copy- 
 right law, or in any consideration of the subject looking 
 to a more satisfactory adaptation of the law to the interests 
 at stake, regard must be had to the peculiar circumstances 
 of the country and the geographical relation it bears to the 
 neighbouring territory of the United States. 
 
 Fortunately, and thanks in a great measure to yourself, 
 there is now no necessity to urge that the British publisher 
 shall recognise the exceptional position of Canada in 
 respect to this subject, and which necessitates exceptional 
 legislation ; and that, while frankly admitting that the Act 
 of 1847 ^'^''^^ seriously defective, and inoperative in conse- 
 quence of the indifferenceof the English owner to enregister 
 his work, we may to-day indulge the hope that the measure 
 our Parliament has recently given its assent to will enable 
 us at once to remove the disabilities our publishing industry 
 has hitherto suffered from, while that of a foreigner has 
 floiu'ished, and that adequate return shall be secured to the 
 English author for Ihe literary material made use of by the 
 country. 
 
 It was not to have been expected that the Canadian 
 Copyright Act of 1872 would not be taken exception to by 
 EngHsh authors and publishers --especially by those of the 
 publishing trade who have hitherto been slow to discern 
 the peculiar position of Canada in respect of the subject, 
 and which has called for special and exceptional legisla- 
 tion ; and also by those, happily few in number, who, 
 without distinguishing this feature in our case, character- 
 ised the action and motives of our people and trade by 
 
r [ 
 
 
 the hard terms which they appHed to our American neigh- 
 bours, and who would neither adapt their trade deaUngs to 
 the circumstances of our country, nor admit the necessity of 
 £1 poHcy of expediency in heu of the harsh and inelastic 
 exactions of principle. 
 
 We admit that it is somewhat natural that the latter 
 class should regard the Act as an arbitrary wresting of 
 property to our use ; but the measure, surely, should be 
 looked upon more indulgently when it is seen that the 
 effect of its operation will be to exchange a delusive pro- 
 tection of an author's rights and interests for a substantial 
 one, and to secure him an important and adequate royalty 
 on every copy sold of his book in Canada, and also, in a 
 great measure, to regain for him the American market, 
 hitherto lost by the insular trade restrictiveness of the 
 English publisher, and to win for him in that important 
 field a royalty on the sale of editions. 
 
 Moreover, it should not be overlooked by those in- 
 terested in this question in England that for the past fifteen 
 years the people of Canada have been endeavouring to find 
 a remedy for this ineffective Act, under which, and in spite 
 of its disabilities, the publishing industries of the country 
 have progressed in a wonderful degree ; and that the 
 anomaly of a foreigner having the right to supply a 
 market, the native trade of which had ample facility for 
 providing for, while having regard to the author's interests 
 (disregarded by the foreigner), could only be met by such 
 an Act as our Government has, after much and fruitless 
 correspondence with the Imperial authorities, taken the 
 initiative in securing. 
 
 It need not be said to you, who have given such study 
 to the subject, and wlio have done such service in the matter, 
 that this Act has been passed by our Parliament after long 
 and serious deliberation ; and that though it may seem an 
 arbitrary procedure thus to deal with proprietary interests, 
 which it may be claimed are not free to us to legislate upon, 
 yet it must be borne in mind that rights of the nature of 
 copyright are very intangible, and are necessarily limited 
 in their privilege and operation. And further, as it is 
 deemed expedient, in the public interest, that rights of this 
 character must be restrictive as to the period during which 
 a royalty is to be enjoyed by the author, the Act, therefore, 
 does little violation in the premises ; especially while our 
 American neighbour disallows the right in his territory, and 
 
? 
 
 [ 
 
 \\ 
 
 i 
 I 
 
 lias the privilege of sending his reprints into ours, \vc adapt 
 our legislation to our circumstances in this respect, and do 
 the best we can, primarily for the author, and secondarily 
 for our people's wants. 
 
 Having taken this step, fully considering the subject in 
 all its bearings, and having endeavoured to do justice to all 
 interests, we are now naturally desirous that the Act should 
 be permitted to go into operation, and to go into operation 
 unfettered by any restrictions or conditions qualifying its 
 free scope, and which might likely prejudice its success as 
 regards the satisfactory return it will make to the English 
 copyright-owner. 
 
 This being the case, we regret to find certain of the 
 publishing trade, in connection with the Copyright Associa- 
 tion here, suggesting a proposal designed by them as a 
 compromise to our scheme, and which, were we to entertain, 
 would neutralise if not imperil all we hope to gain, for all 
 interests, by the operation of our Act, These gentlemen, 
 as you may be aware, object to granting us unrestrained 
 licence, even on the plan of our Act, to reprint English 
 copyrights ; and, though conceding to us, in theory and 
 conditionally, local publication for our market, they wish 
 to retain to themselves the privilege of enregistering 
 copyright of their publications in Canada, to the exclusion 
 of the American reprint, unless a Canadian edition is not 
 nrranged for within a certain period ; and to necessitate 
 our publishing firms to negotiate for the right to republish 
 in the instance of every copyright issued here which they 
 ma}^ desire to reprint. 
 
 The effect of this would be to nullify all that is certain 
 to be secured by our Act to the copyright-owner, and 
 would place our people in a worse position in regard to 
 their intellectual wants than they have hitherto been. 
 
 To insist upon this condition, it seems to us that we 
 had better let the present state of things abide ; and though 
 the author's interests now " go by the board," our people 
 have the boon of the American reprints, which would be 
 denied us under the proposed scheme of the Copyright 
 Association, unless we placed ourselves at a disadvantage 
 with the American, and bring ourselves into competition 
 with his trade in the negotiation for advance sheets for our 
 market, for which, in many instances, doubtless, we would 
 be outbid by him. And that we would be outbid it 
 is safe to presume, as the American publisher, having 
 
, 
 
 ^ ■'■tt''*T'! y.!T;.w*i;.7g.'S"y y^ ■■t.jiwy.wwi 
 
 .1 much larger field, and consequently a more remu- 
 nerative market, would, doubtless, make it a condition 
 of giving anything to the English copyright-owner theit 
 he should have the monopoly of the markets of the whole 
 American continent, including that of Canada. 
 
 Moreover, in compelling us to treat with the English 
 publisher for the right of reproduction, time would neces- 
 sarily be lost and delays occur in the process of coming to 
 terms at a period most critical to all interests in supplying 
 the market, and just at a time when the American pro- 
 ducer is free to manufacture and flood the Continent with 
 his edition, in which our intended competing one would 
 have no chance of sale, owing to its late issue and the 
 conditions imposed upon the Canadian publisher. 
 
 It may be replied to this that, under the Association 
 scheme, copyright would be secured in Canada by the 
 owner, and our market would be protected in favour of the 
 native reprint ; but could we rely upon this, when our 
 people, debarred by its expense from purchasing the 
 original English library edition, and whilst a tardy native 
 one was in proces:: of being negotiated for, find a cheap 
 and expeditiously reproduced American one to their hands, 
 but across a long and ill-defined boundary line ? Or could 
 we rely upon this, further, supposing the American edition 
 out of reach altogether, if, in the time lost in negotiating, 
 the period of demand for and interest in a publication is 
 allowed to pass before the authorised reprint is put upon 
 the market. 
 
 It may be that in the case of a few leading publishing 
 houses on this side care would be taken that either before 
 or simultaneously with publication in England a Canadian 
 edition would be arranged for ; but how would it be in the 
 case of stray, out-of-the-way houses here, w4iose books, 
 possibly ephemeral in their character, yet from the current 
 of thought and public attention to their subject at the 
 moment gives them prominence, and for which there 
 would be demand in Canada, and it might be found 
 desirable and remunerative to reprint .-' 
 
 Certainly in such, and possibly frequent, an event, both 
 our people and the copyright-owner would suffer by the 
 ir.ability of our trade to supply the work at once ; or, 
 should our people insist upon supplying themselves, it 
 would be by a process distasteful to them, and though it 
 would merit reproof, yet such a course would be forced 
 
8 
 
 
 if 
 
 upon them by the circumstances under the contemplated 
 compromise. 
 
 The author, besides, in insisting upon overtures first 
 being made to the EngUsh pubHsher prior to reprinting, 
 has no advantage in the proposed plan, as it will reasonably 
 be presumed he would receive no more in the sum arranged 
 for by the negotiating publisher than he would receive in 
 the royalty accruing to him from the duty levied by the 
 Act just passed by us. And referring to the royalty 
 (i2| per cent, on the wholesale price of the reprint) 
 arranged for in the Act to be levied in the author's 
 interest on the editions reprinted by the Canadian pub- 
 lisher, it cannot be questioned that the amount of the 
 impost, or the arrangement by which the royalty is to 
 be collected and secured to the copyright-owner, is as 
 satisfactory as could well be made ; particularly so when it 
 is considered that our Government makes and transmits 
 to the author the full royalty, without cost of collection 
 or transmission, and that the nativ^e publisher assumes 
 all risks in the reprints undertaken, and levies no charge 
 upon the owner of the work for commission, advertising, 
 and the many items which materially reduce the return to 
 authors on the sale of their works in the English market. 
 
 Further, as one of the great motives in reprinting in 
 Canada for years to come, and until our native demand 
 grows to greater proportions, is to manufacture for the 
 large markets adjacent to us, and which, from our facilities 
 of reproduction and cheaper labour, we are enabled to 
 compete for ; thus to hamper us first by negotiating with 
 the owner here, which to the American is unnecessary, is to 
 close the door upon this purpose, and to lose to the English 
 author, all that might be gained for him in the royalty he 
 would receive on the editions disposed of in that field. 
 
 We can rely. Sir John, on your giving us credit for a 
 thorough unselfishness and disinterestedness in the review 
 and discussion of this subject. We claim to act, however, 
 for ourselves alone, and in no representative capacity ; and 
 we need scarcely assure you that we shall be heartily desirous 
 of having the opportunity, by the operation of our Act, to 
 do better justice than has been hitherto possible to the 
 English author and copyright-owner, while at the same 
 time our nativ . industries shall not be dented privileges 
 enjoyed by those of an alien people ; and we shall only be 
 too glad if any acts or words of ours shall facilitate this 
 

 result, and gain for our Government, trade, and people the 
 good opinion of the authors, the publishing trade, and 
 people of England. 
 
 Doubtless, whatever may be the fate of our recent 
 Act, the intelligent discussion of the state of copyright 
 in the colonies among publishers here will likely remove 
 frutn their minds the prejudices which they have acquired; 
 anr^ lead them, in abandoning the conservative style in 
 which they have hitherto treated colonial book importers 
 and pubfishers, to adapt their trade dealings to the circum- 
 stances of society in the colonies ; and, mayhap, urge them, 
 in the interest of the reading masses at their doors, as 
 well as '"n the interest of their own pockets, to try the 
 experiment of large, moderate-priced, popular editions of 
 works issued by them, rather than the unremunerative and 
 risky library editions which the conventionalities of trade 
 and the distinctions of class have imposed upon them. 
 
 Permit us, in closing, to make the following extract 
 from an article on " International Copyright," which lately 
 appeared in "The Canadian Monthly and National Review," 
 and to thank you sincerely for your many good offices to 
 Canada in this as in other matters; and also, to apologise 
 for our trespassing so much on your time and patience by 
 this lengthy letter : — 
 
 "A people enjoying self-government can hardly allow 
 Imperial legislation to intervene in questions affecting local 
 rights of property and social progress. An ardent sup- 
 porter of the political connection existing between Great 
 Britain and the Dominion must desire to see every question 
 set at rest that may prejudice Canadians in the eyes of 
 their fellow-countrymen in the mother land. Authors are 
 a sensitive race ; they have often a keener appreciation of 
 an injustice than an accurate knowledge of the .neans that 
 may secure its removal ; and the pens they handle may 
 prove instruments of mischief and misrepresentation, if fair 
 and equitable legislation fail to come to the settlement of 
 their claims on a just and practicable basis." 
 
 With much respect, we are, Sir John, 
 
 Your obedient servants, 
 
 JOHN LOVELL, Montreal. 
 
 G. MERCER ADAM, Toronto. 
 
 {Firm of Adajn, Stevenson, ^ Co.) 
 Londony Augusi li^, 1872. 
 
lO 
 
 , 
 
 « : 
 
 r 
 
 THE NEW COPYRIGHT ACT. 
 
 {From the " Canada Bookseller^'' for July.) 
 
 The many urgent and persistent efforts of the Dominion Govern- 
 ment to get the Imperial authorities to take cognisance of the anomalies 
 of the Copyright Law in Canada, and to sanction native reprinting as 
 a remedy for its defects, having failed of any result, our Parliament has 
 taken the initiative in the matter, and has passed an Act legalising 
 the reprintitig of English copyrights in the country. This important 
 measure, however, does net become law until the Governor-General 
 issues a proclamation to that end — the delay being deemed expedient 
 in order that the assent of the British Government may be obtained, in 
 case we niay have exceeded our powers of legislation. 
 
 There is little fe^r but that Imperial sanction will be had, as 
 the Colonial Office is fully aware of the substantial advantages the 
 English author secures by the Act : while of the authors themselves, 
 many of the more prominent of them have endorsed the Act, and are 
 now earnestly advocating its acceptance, in the English public prints, 
 as being most advantageous to the prime interests at stake — those of 
 the author. 
 
 The English publishers, it is thought, will probably endeavour to 
 prevent the Act being asser'^'^'' to by the British Government, with the 
 hope of hindering its going into operation here. Their object in taking 
 this course m regard to the bill is their desire to retain the Canadian 
 market in their exclusive possession — a market they have hitherto 
 undervalued and neglected. Like British statesmen in regard to our 
 political relations, row that the market has grown to be of such im- 
 portance, they wisli to keep it ever in leading-strings, in utter ignorance, 
 at the same time, of the circumstances of its position, or of the neces- 
 sities of the country. 
 
 What the peculiarities of our position in regard to this matter of 
 copyright and the supply of our intellectual wants are, our readers 
 of course know. That the Canadian trade d'-aws so much of its literary 
 supplies from New York and Boston, they equally \vell know, is rot 
 the fault of the book importers of the country. The men of the trade 
 throughout tlic Dominion are almost entirely of Canadian or British 
 origin, and all the wholesale dialers have sympathies and predilections 
 in favour of the English market, whither they go annually lO purcha.- " 
 for their several constituents. That they all should be represented in 
 London, generally every year, where th.ey come in contac with leading 
 publishcis in the business relations they are permitted to have witli 
 thein ; and that with a full knowledge, which they freely communicate 
 to the trade, of the circumstances of the colonial market, and an enter- 
 prise which prom))ts tlieni to buy largely if met advantn|.',eously and 
 reasonaljly — that they, we say, should return to buy the s.ime publi- 
 cations in a foreign and alien m;'.rket is surely not the fault of the 
 native trade. That we should have the option of buying in the 
 American markei is, further, not the fault of the Canadian booksellers, 
 but the consequence of our peculiar position, as contrasted with that of 
 other British colonies. And it is this geograpiiical relationship to the 
 United states (where these reprints are produced, and whence they 
 radiate over a continent the reading capacity of the pe pie of which 
 is one of the marvels of the age) that the conservative English pub- 
 
IT 
 
 lishcr will not see, and yet it is a circumstance in our case which calls 
 for special attention and an adaptation of trade dealings. 
 
 It was this circumstance that led to the concession of 1847, per- 
 mitting us to trade in American reprints of English copyrights ; and 
 for London publishers to shut their eyes to the thousand miles of 
 almost indistinguishable boundary line that divides Canada from the 
 ICastern and Northern States, and to prescribe the interchange in 
 literary commodities between these countries is as absurd as it would 
 be to limit the intimate trade dealings of Scotland and England 
 at the borders, or to erect the parallel line of 2° west longitude in 
 England into a restrictive commercial boundary across which the 
 people of either side should have no dealings. 
 
 The circumstance of our contiguous position to the United States 
 is thus an essential element in the consideration of our case ; but the 
 English publishers have been so slow to recognise this, and so inadaptive 
 in their style of doing business, as to prevent their meeting the Canadian 
 trade with such concessions in their terms as the circumstances re- 
 quired and they could afford. Considering the growing extent of the 
 market, it would have been materially worth their while to have done 
 so ; as it is, it is no wonder that so much of the native trade has found 
 its way to the American markets. Moreover, these very markets, largo 
 and important as they are, and being sundered from the jurisdiction of 
 the Imperial Copyright Act, might have been, to a great extent, 
 tributary to the English sources of demand, had the publishing firms of 
 London, shaking off their old world notions and abandoning their 
 insular restrictiveness, adapted the style and price of their publications 
 to the publishing method of the new world, viz., popular editions, a 
 cheap price, and a large sale. 
 
 Canada having grown up amid the cheap republication system of 
 the American trade, and for thirty years having had her educational 
 necessities and intellectual life fed, to a great degree, from this source 
 — legally permitted, by Imperial enactment, in consideration of the 
 circumstances of her position — it can occasion no surprise, therefore, 
 that possessing industry, uioour and enterprise, she is now desirous of 
 manufacturing for her own demand, particularly as in doing so she has 
 due regard to the author's interests — nay, places him at an infinitely 
 greater advantage with regard to both Canadian and American markets 
 than is possible under any existing arrangement, while, at the same 
 time, endeavouring to do justice to her own industry. 
 
 The measure just pp.ssed, it need hartlly be added, is no selfish one 
 on the part of the Canadian book trade ; neither would there have 
 been any necessity for it had the English publishers adapted them- 
 scivcs to the wants and circumstances of a new people — bound to 
 educate themselves and rise intellectually to the standard of older 
 peoples at the most economical outlay their slender means can afford ; 
 neither does it do injustice to the author producer, except as it may 
 arbitrarily adopt a plan whereby an adecjuate remuneration shall be 
 secured for the author, which will return hnr., if the Act have fair play, 
 a royalty likely to bulk up more largely in the liberal percentage from 
 a large snle, than the English, large per-centage from Hie limited 
 sale; and that without cost of collection, or any publisher's levy for 
 advertising charges, commission on sales, or the thousand and one 
 item that qualify the linancial result to English authors from ihc 
 product of their brams. 
 
12 
 
 THE COPYRIGHT BILL AND ITS PROVISIONS. 
 
 {From the " Canadian Monthly ''for July.) 
 
 The injustice inflicted upon Canadian industry and enterprise 
 under the old system was manifest to every one who gave the subject 
 a moment's consideration. The English publisher issued his works at 
 a price beyond the means of the mass of colonial readers. The 
 American publishers reprinted these works, in many cases, without 
 rcmunera'^ing the author. These reprints were published at a cheaper 
 rate ; but, in addition to the publishing price, the Canadian reader 
 had to pay the ad valorem duty, ostensibly as a royalty to the author, 
 although, in fact, it seldom, if ever, found its way into the author's 
 pocket. The Canadian publisher, with superior facilities, cheaper 
 materials, and a lower rate of wages, was virtually shut out of the 
 competition. If a work of general interest issued from the English 
 press, negotiations with the author were necessary before he could 
 venture to undertake 'tn republication. Meanwhile, before a "form" 
 of the work could be put in type, he found the market fully supplied 
 by an American reprint, All our pubhshers asked therefore was, not 
 to be protected against foreign competition, but that foreign pub- 
 lishers should not be protected against them. The chief credit of the 
 recent change in the law belongs of right to Mr. John Lovell, of 
 Montreal. He proved conclusively, by a reductio ad a' snrdiim^ that 
 he could do in exile what, as a Canadian, he was not permitted to do 
 at home. The provisions of the new law may be briefly stated as 
 follows : — Any publisher, having a license for that purpose from the 
 Governor-General, and having deposited loo dols. as security for the 
 payment of an excise duty of 12^ per cent, on the wholesale value of 
 the work when printed in Canada, may within one month of securing 
 the copyright republish any British copyright work. The period of 
 one month may be extended, for sufficient cause ; the importation of 
 foreign reprints of such works as are published under the Act is pro- 
 hibited ; and the excise duty is to be paid, not nominally but actually, 
 to the party or parties beneficially interested in the British copyright. 
 T'.ie question still remains whether our Parliament has not acted jdtra 
 vires in passing the new law. It is true that the British North 
 America Act gives the Dominion Legislature jurisdiction over the 
 subject of copyright (30 and 31 Vic, c. 3, sec. 91), but it does not 
 appear ♦hat any power vas intended to be granted thereby in addition to 
 that possessed by the old province of Canada, The Imperial Copy- 
 right Act extends to the colonics, and it would seem, therefore, tiiat 
 Imperial legislation is necessary to give validity to the new Act. Accord- 
 ing to the Hon. Mr. Campbell, the frauicr of the bill, our Government is 
 satisfied that the Act is constitutional ; but as it only comes in force 
 after a proclamation by the Ciovernor-Gencral, it is probable that the 
 opinion of the law officers of the crown in England will be taken upon 
 the point. In any caiic, there is no occasion to doubt the ultimate 
 confirmation of so necessary an enactment. 
 
II 
 
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