378
COPYRIGHT
Deposit copies
Importation
Remedies
for the whole term of copyright or any part thereof, or license accordingly. But no assignment otherwise than by will shall be operative beyond twenty-five years from the death of the author, when the copy- right reverts to his natural heirs, following Spanish precedent.
Registration provisions are altogether omitted from the new measure.
Deposit is required at the British Museum within one month after publication, "of every book pub- lished in the United Kingdom" on penalty of fine not exceeding five pounds and the value of the book, and copies must also be supplied to the four university libraries, and for specific classes to the National Library of Wales, on demand — the "best" edition in the case of the British Museum, and that of which most copies are sold in the other cases.
Importation of " copies made out of the United Kingdom . . . which if made within the United King- dom would infringe copyright," is prohibited, on notification in writing to the Commissioners of Cus- toms (the Isle of Man being specifically excepted from this provision), and similar prohibition is au- thorized as to British possessions. The use in the sec- tion on infringement of the phrase "imports for sale or hire," taken from the act of 1842, involves a possible limitation of this prohibition which is dis- cussed in the chapter on importation.
The usual civil remedies are provided, actions being limited within three years from the infringement. If the real name of an author, or in the absence of such, the name of a publisher, is indicated on a work, that is prima facie evidence of copyright ownership in the prosecution of infringement. An infringer may be relieved from damages (but not from injunction) on proving innocence; architectural infringements may
