# Primary Sources on Copyright - Record Viewer
Agreement between the Netherlands and France on the reproduction of scientific and literary works, The Hague (1855)

Source: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, T 6000, band 1855

Citation:
Agreement between the Netherlands and France on the reproduction of scientific and literary works, The Hague (1855), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

Back | Record | Images | No Commentaries
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf

16 translated pages

Chapter 1 Page 1


GOVERNMENT GAZETTE
OF THE
KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS.

(No. 107.) DECREE of the 22nd of July 1855, determining the placement in the Official Gazette of the agreement with France on the prevention of the reproduction of scientific and literary works.

We WILLIAM III, by the grace of God, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, etc., etc., etc.

Given the agreement with France on the prevention of the reproduction of scientific and literary works, signed by the respective plenipotentiaries in The Hague on the 29th of March, reading as follows:



Chapter 1 Page 2


[No. 107] (2)


TRANSLATION.

His Majesty the King of the Netherlands and His Majesty the Emperor of the French, desiring to give effect to the provision of Art. 14 of the trade and shipping treaty, signed in Paris on the 25th of July 1840, in which it was agreed that literary property would be preserved, and that a special convention would further determine the conditions of application and implementation of that principle in each of the two countries;
the Emperor of the French additionally desires to continuously ensure the subjects of His Dutch Majesty of the enjoyment of the guarantees, which they already hold in France under the decree of 28 March 1852 relating to the reproduction of foreign works; accordingly, the two high contracting parties, to this end, have decided to determine in joint consultation the measures, which they consider most suited to ensure the writers or their assignees the property of their scientific and literary works, published for the first time in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or in France.
With that objective, they have appointed as their plenipotentiaries, namely:
His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Sir Floris Adriaan of Hall, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Dutch Lion, the order of the White Falcon of Saxony-Weimar, the Leopold order of Belgium, the Ernestine order of the House of Saxony, the Imperial Russian order of the White Eagle and the Guelphic order of Hanover, Hon Minister of State and Foreign Affairs,
and His Majesty the Emperor of the French, Lord Jean Marie Armand, Baron of Andre, commander of the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory



Chapter 1 Page 3


(3) [No. 107]


[Original text in French]





Chapter 1 Page 4


[No. 107] (4)


the Great, etc., etc., Hon Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the King of the Netherlands;
who, after the notification of their respective plenipotentiaries, which are found to be in good and due order, have agreed concerning the following articles:

Art. 1.

Starting from the time when, in accordance with the provisions of art. 11 below, the present agreement will be enforceable, the authors of scientific or literary works to whom the laws of either country at present, or in future will, reserve the right of property or copyright, as well as to their assignees, will have the authority to exercise that right in the territory of the other country during the same time and within the same limits as the right is exercised in the other country, which has been granted to the authors of works of a similar nature published there;
in the sense that the reprinting or copying, in either state, of scientific or literary works which are published in the other, insofar as the present agreement does not conflict with said laws, will be treated in the same manner as the reprinting or copying of work of a similar nature originally published in that other country;
and that the authors of either country will have the same legal claim in the courts of the other, and will enjoy the same guarantees against unlawful copying or reprinting as the law confers, or may confer in future, on authors of the latter country.
There has been, however, expressly stipulated that the rights, which in one or the other country can be exercised reciprocally with regard to the above works, will not be broader than those that the law of the country, to which the author or his assignees belong, confers.

Art. 2.

The protection, stipulated in Art. 1, will be secured only


Chapter 1 Page 5


(5) [No. 107]


[Original text in French]



Chapter 1 Page 6


[No. 107] (6)


to him who shall have duly complied with the laws and regulations, in force in the country where the work was originally published, relating to the work for which that protection is invoked.
A statement issued by the Home Secretary in The Hague, or the office of the book trade at the Home Office in Paris, or by the Secretariat Office of the Prefecture in the departments, shall serve as proof of the compliance with the formalities set out by law and regulations.

Art. 3.

The translations made of national or foreign works in either State are explicitly taken to be original works. As such, those translations shall enjoy the protection stipulated in Art. 1, insofar as concerns the reproduction of these in the other State.
It is established that the present article does not aim to grant the first translator of a work the exclusive translation rights, but only to protect the translator regarding his own translation.

Art. 4.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 1, 2, and 3 of the present agreement, the articles taken from newspapers or magazines, which are published in either country, can be reproduced in the newspapers or magazines of the other country, provided that the origin is indicated.
This authority can not be regarded as extending to the reprinting in either country of the "serials" of newspapers, or items from journals, published in the other country, whereof the writers, in the newspaper or magazine itself in which they have published them, have stated in a prominent way that they prohibit the copying of it.
The latter provision will not be applicable to items containing political considerations.


Chapter 1 Page 7


(7) [No. 107]


[Original text in French]


Chapter 1 Page 8


[No. 107] (8)


Art. 5.

The importing, selling, and displaying, in either of the two countries, of every copy of works, which under Art. 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the present agreement enjoy the privilege of protection against reproduction, is prohibited, whether those copies come from the country where the work is published, or from any foreign country.
The import will be considered as piracy. The proceeds of the fine, in the case provided for in the latter provision, will be for the benefit of the Treasury of the State in which the sentence will have been pronounced.

Art. 6.

In case of violation of the provisions of the preceding Articles, the copied works will be seized, and the persons guilty of these infringements shall be punished in each of the two countries with the penalties which are now, or may in future be, set out in the laws of that country for this offence, whenever it is committed against any work or product of national origin.

Art. 7.

The present agreement will not be able to prevent the continuing free sale, in the respective States, of works which may have been reproduced, in whole or in part, before the entry into force of said agreement;
meanwhile, no new publication will be allowed to take place of the same works in neither of the two States, nor may any other copies be imported from outside, save for those intended to supplement the orders or subscriptions commenced earlier.

Art. 8.

In order to facilitate the implementation of the present agreement, the two high contracting



Chapter 1 Page 9


(9) [No. 107]


[Original text in French]


Chapter 1 Page 10


[No. 107] (10)


parties undertake to reciprocally notify each other of the laws and regulations that currently exist, as well as those that may be established later in respective states in terms of copyright, insofar as it concerns the works which are protected under the provisions of the present agreement.

Art. 9.

The provisions of the present agreement shall in no way affect the right, which each of the two high contracting parties, by measures of law or internal police, expressly reserves to monitor and prohibit the sale, distribution and display of all works or productions in respect of which the one country or the other may deem practical to exercise that right.

Art. 10.

Nothing in the present agreement shall be considered as violating the right of either of the two high contracting parties to prohibit the import into their own state of works, which, in accordance with the laws of the country or according to agreements entered into with other powers, are, or may be, declared reproductions or infringements of copyright.

Art. 11.

The present agreement will enter into force as soon as possible after her proclamation, in accordance with the laws of each of the two countries, and starting from the day that will be determined then by the two high contracting parties.
In each country, the Government will properly publish the date, which will have been agreed on, in advance.
The present agreement will remain in force until the 25th of July 1859. After this term, it will follow the fate of the trade and shipping treaty, signed in Paris on the 25th of July 1840, in the sense that it will be taken to be terminated if one of the parties, under the conditions


Chapter 1 Page 11


(11) [No. 107]


[Original text in French]


Chapter 1 Page 12


[No. 107] (12)


provided for in art. 15 of that treaty, will have indicated to the other its intention to cease the effect thereof.
The high contracting parties shall reserve the authority, in joint consultation, to make any change to the present agreement not incompatible with the spirit and principles that serve as its base, and of which experience may have shown the usefulness.

Art. 12.

The present Agreement shall be ratified and the ratifications shall be exchanged within the term of six months, or, if possible, sooner.
As proof whereof the plenipotentiaries have signed and put their seals on the present agreement.

Done in The Hague, the twenty-ninth day of the month of March of the year of grace one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.

(Signed) VAN HALL. (Signed) Bn. D'ANDRE.
(L. S.) (L. S.)



Chapter 1 Page 13


(13) [No. 107]


[Original text in French]


Given the Law of the 12th of July 1855 (Bulletin of Acts, Orders and Decrees No. 101), holding approval of the provisions of the above agreement, considering statutory right;


Chapter 1 Page 14


[No. 107] (14)


Given that the exchange of the instruments of ratification of said agreement, signed by Us, on the 15th of July, and by HM the Emperor of the French on the 25th of June 1855, has occurred on the 19th of July first following:

On the recommendation of Our Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the 19th of July 1855, No. 30.

Have approved and decreed to provide that this decision, with the agreement contained therein and translation thereof, shall be published in the Bulletin of Acts, Orders and Decrees.

Het Loo, 22nd of July 1855.

WILLIAM.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs,
VAN HALL.

Issued the fourth of August 1855
The President of the King's Cabinet,
DE KOCK



Chapter 1 Page 15


GOVERNMENT GAZETTE
OF THE
KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS.


(No. 120.) DECREE of the 13th of September 1855, containing the determination of the time of entering into force the agreement concluded with France on the prevention of the reproduction of scientific and literary works.

We WILLIAM III , by the grace of God, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, etc., etc., etc.

Taking into consideration that, under art. 11 of the agreement, concluded with France on the 29th of March 1855, on the prevention of the reproduction of scientific and literary works, approved by the Law of 12 July 1855 (Bulletin of Acts, Orders and Decrees No. 101), the time at which that agreement would take effect would be determined later;

Given our decision of 22 July 1855 (Bulletin of Acts, Orders and Decrees No. 107.);

Considering that between the respective governments for said time the day of 20 September 1855 is set;

Have decided and decreed:

The date of the entry into force of the agreement, concluded with France on the 29th of March 1855, on the prevention of the reproduction of scientific and literary works, is set for the 20th of September 1855.

Our Minister of Foreign Affairs is responsible for the implementation of this Decision, of which duplicates shall be sent


Chapter 1 Page 16


[No. 120] (2)


to the Departments of Finance, Justice, and the Interior, and which will be published in the Bulletin of Acts, Orders and Decrees.

The Hague, the 13th of September 1855.

WILLIAM.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs,
VAN HALL.

Issued the thirteenth of September 1855
The President of the King's Cabinet,
DE KOCK



Translation by: Miluska Kooij

    

Our Partners


Copyright statement

You may copy and distribute the translations and commentaries in this resource, or parts of such translations and commentaries, in any medium, for non-commercial purposes as long as the authorship of the commentaries and translations is acknowledged, and you indicate the source as Bently & Kretschmer (eds), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) (www.copyrighthistory.org).

You may not publish these documents for any commercial purposes, including charging a fee for providing access to these documents via a network. This licence does not affect your statutory rights of fair dealing.

Although the original documents in this database are in the public domain, we are unable to grant you the right to reproduce or duplicate some of these documents in so far as the images or scans are protected by copyright or we have only been able to reproduce them here by giving contractual undertakings. For the status of any particular images, please consult the information relating to copyright in the bibliographic records.


Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) is co-published by Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, 10 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DZ, UK and CREATe, School of Law, University of Glasgow, 10 The Square, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK