Odger's English Common Law

COPYRIGHT. 6091
whose name is so printed or indicated shall, unless the contrary is proved
be presumed to be the author of the work ;
(b) if no name is so printed or indicated, or if the name so printed or
indicated is not. the author's true name or the name by which he is
commonly known, and a name purporting to be that of the publisher or
proprietor of the work is printed or otherwise indicated thereon in the
usual manner, the person whose name is so printed or indicated shall, unless-
the contrary is proved, be presumed to be the owner of the copyright in
the work for the purposes of proceedings in respect of the infringement
of copyright therein." 1
By section 16 of the Copyright Act, 1842, the defendant in an action
for infringement of copyright in a book was required, if he disputed the
plaintiff's copyright, to give a notice in writing stating the grounds of
his objections to the plaintiff's title to copyright. This section has now
been repealed, and is not re-enacted by the Copyright Act, 1911. The
defendant nevertheless must, it is submitted, under the general rules of
pleading now in force, state such objections in the body of his Defence,
or in a separate document delivered therewith. 2
The plaintiff must also prove that the defendant has
infringed his copyright. Any unauthorised reproduction
of a book, or any substantial part of it, that interferes with the
profit and enjoyment which the owner of the copyright may
fairly expect to derive from it amounts to an infringement. 8
It makes no difference that the reproduction was merely for
gratuitous distribution and not for profit. 4
Printing a copy or
selling a copy is an infringement, and it is no answer to a
claim for an injunction that at the date of the infringement
the defendant " was not aware and had no reasonable ground
for suspecting that copyright subsisted in the work." 5
It is an infringement of the copyright in a book to import
into any part of the British dominions any pirated copy of
such book for sale or hire, or to knowingly sell, publish or
offer for sale or hire, or have in possession for sale or hire,
any such pirated copy. 6
Difficult questions sometimes arise as to the extent to which it is
permissible for one author to quote from another. No tort is, of course,
i S. 6 (3).
2 See Order XIX. rr. 4, 6, 15.
s See Educational Co. of Ireland v. Fallon, [1919] 1 Ir. K. 62.
i Novello v. Sudlow (1852), 12 C. B. 177.
« 6. 8.
e 5 & 6 Vict. c. 45, s. 17.
B.C.L.
39