PRIMARY SOURCES

ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)

French International Copyright Act, Paris (1852)

Source: Bibliothèque universitaire de Poitiers (SCD) : Bulletin des Lois de la République française, Xe série, tome neuvième, n° 510

Citation:
French International Copyright Act, Paris (1852), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

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Record-ID: f_1852

Permanent link: https://copyrighthistory.org/cam/tools/request/showRecord.php?id=record_f_1852

Full title:
Report and Decree on the Counterfeit of foreign works

Full title original language:
Rapport et Décret sur la Contrefaçon d'Ouvrages étrangers

Abstract:
If the author's right really was an incontestable property, then it should be protected in the same way by all international agreements. This is an argument which was often invoked by the critics of a property-based legal definition of author's rights. After the bilateral treaties signed by France between 1843 and 1851 (with Sardinia, Portugal, Hanover, and Great Britain), it was, though, not until the Decree of 28 March 1852 that French legislation, for 'reasons of universal justice', finally granted protection to the authors of works published abroad. Indeed, previously to that, the majority view in France, in both jurisprudential theory and practice, had been that any legal action undertaken by such authors (regardless of whether they were French citizens or foreigners), or by their assignees, was invalid unless there was a specific agreement with the country concerned. Thus, whilst tying in with more modern developments in the international protection of authors' rights before the Berne Convention, the Decree of 1852 would nevertheless encounter difficulties in the way it was to be applied, even to the extent of challenges to the definition of the author's right in terms of property.

Commentary: No commentaries for this record.

Bibliography:
N/A

Related documents in this database:
1884: Orelli: 'Swiss Copyright Act 1883 with comments and appendices'
1851: Anglo-French Copyright Treaty
1852: International Copyright Act

Author: N/A

Publisher: Imprimerie Nationale

Year: 1852

Location: Paris

Language: French

Source: Bibliothèque universitaire de Poitiers (SCD) : Bulletin des Lois de la République française, Xe série, tome neuvième, n° 510

Persons referred to:
N/A

Places referred to:
N/A

Cases referred to:
N/A

Institutions referred to:
N/A

Legislation:
French International Copyright Act 1852

Keywords:
international agreements, bilateral
property theory, authors' property

Responsible editor: Frédéric Rideau


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