Source: Dagbladet, søndag 19. April 1896. Location: The National Library of Norway.
Citation:
Regarding Norway’s Accession to the Berne Convention, Christiania (1896), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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Regarding Norway’s accession to the Bern Convention, Ove Rode writes in Poltiken, among other things:
“We stand before the consummate reality – Norway has joined the Convention, and we are left on the outside – and it is worth considering how this might develop in the future. From this moment on, since Norway has accepted the international copyright principles, books published in Norway will enjoy a legal protection against unlawful exploitation in all countries who are signatories to the convention. This means that Norwegian (and Danish) authors who publish their books through Norwegian publishers will have control over the fate of their books in, among others, the most important countries in Europe: Germany, France, and England. They will be able to prevent the defacement of their work by incompetent translators and share in a fair part of the profits of their intellectual labour.
Writers in Denmark, however, are left to the arbitrary whims of foreign countries. It is evident that the Danish book trade, under these circumstances, will face great hardships. That they themselves are aware of this is evident and transpires from the appeal made to the Parliament in 1894 by all the leading publishers in Copenhagen, in view of Norway’s potential accession to the Convention, requesting that Denmark also join [the Convention]. It would not be difficult to conceive that an entrepreneurial person, who is not particular about his means, might establish a two-part business, one part of which would be based in Kristiania, for the publication of internationally protected Nordic original works, and one in Copenhagen, for stolen translations. The possibility of such a double enterprise shows how utterly meaningless it is for these two countries not to follow each other in this matter. Such companies would probably bring Denmark into international disrepute in a way that is not sustainable in the long run. But nothing guarantees that such an enterprising man will not be created from the situation – unless we try to get out of this situation as soon as possible.
Om Norges Tiltrædelse af Bernerkonventionen
skriver O(ve) R(ode) i Politiken bl. a.:
«Vi staar nu overfor den fuldbyrdede Kjendsgjerning – Norge er i Konventionen, og vi staar udenfor – og det vil da ikke være af Vejen at se, hvorledes Forholdet for Fremtiden vil arte sig. Fra det Øjeblik, Norge har anerkjendt den internationale Forfatterrets Grundsætninger, tilkommer der alle i Norge udkommende Bøger retslig Beksyttelse mod ulovlig Udbytning i alle Konventionens Lande. Det vil altsaa si, at alle norske (og danske) Forfattere, der udgir sine Bøger paa norsk Forlag, derved opnaar Bestemmelsesret over Bøgernes Skjæbne bl. a. i de tre europæiske Hovedlande, Tyskland, Frankrige og England. De vil kunne hindre, at deres Værker skamskjændes af en uduelig Oversætter, og de vil faa en rimelig Andel i Udbyttet af sit Aandsarbejde.
De Forfattere, der udgir sine Bøger i Danmark, er derimod prisgivne til Udlandets Forgodtbefindende.
Det er indlysende, at den danske Boghandel under disse Vilkaar vil faa store Vanskeligheder at kjæmpe imod. At den selv er paa det Rene hermed, fremgaar af den Adresse, hvori alle betydelige kjøbenhavnske Forlæggere i 1894 henvendte sig til Rigsdagen med Anmodning om af Hensyn til Norges eventuelle Tilslutning til Konventionen ogsaa at lade Danmark følge med. Det kunde forøvrigt tænkes, at en driftig Mand, der ikke saa saa nøje paa sine midler, søgte Udveje til at omgaa disse Vanskeligheder og for Eksempel etablerede en tvedelt Forretning, en Afdeling med Sæde i Kristiania for Udgivelsen af internationalt beskyttede nordiske Originalværker og en Afdeling i Kjøbenhavn for røvede Oversættelser. Et saadant Dobbeltforetagendes Mulighed viser det fuldkomment meningsløse i, at de to Lande ikke paa dette Omraade følges ad. Foretagender af en saadan Art vilde vel forøvrigt paadrage Danmark et Odium i Udlandet, som ikke i Længden var til at bære. Men ingen garanterer os mod, at den driftige Mand skabes af Situationen – saafremt vi da ikke snarest mulig søger at komme ud af den.