Page:Copyright Act, 1956 (United Kingdom).djvu/36

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Ch. 74
Copyright Act, 1956
4 & 5 ELIZ. 2

Part III
cont.
(8) Where, in an action brought in the circumstances mentioned in subsection (3) of this section, whether by the owner of the copyright or by the exclusive licensee, the other party is not joined as a plaintiff (either at the commencement of the action or subsequently), but is added as a defendant, he shall not be liable for any costs in the action unless he enters an appearance and takes part in the proceedings.

(9) In this section “exclusive licence” means a licence in writing, signed by or on behalf of an owner or prospective owner of copyright, authorising the licensee, to the exclusion of all other persons, including the grantor of the licence, to exercise a right which by virtue of this Act would (apart from the licence) be exercisable exclusively by the owner of the copyright, and exclusive licensee” shall be construed accordingly; “the other party”, in relation to the owner of the copyright, means the exclusive. licensee, and, in relation to the exclusive licensee, means the owner of the copyright; and “if the licence had been an assignment” means if, instead of the licence, there had been granted (subject to terms and conditions corresponding as nearly as may be with those subject to which the licence was granted) an assignment of the copyright in respect of its application to the doing, at the places and times authorised by the licence, of the acts so authorised.

Proof of
facts in
copyright
actions.
20.-(1) In any action brought by virtue of this Part of this Act—

(a) copyright shall be presumed to subsist in the work or other subject-matter to which the action relates, if the defendant does not put in issue the question whether copyright subsists therein, and

(b) where the subsistence of the copyright is proved or admitted, or is presumed in pursuance of the preceding paragraph, the plaintiff shall be presumed to be the owner of the copyright, if he claims to be the owner of the copyright and the defendant does not put in issue the question of his ownership thereof.

(2) Subject to the preceding subsection, where, in the case of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, a name purporting to be that of the author appeared on copies of the work as published, or, in the case of an artistic work, appeared on the work when it was made, the person whose name so appeared (if it was his true name or a name by which he was commonly known) shall, in any action brought by virtue of this Part of this Act, be presumed, unless the contrary is proved,—

(a) to be the author of the work, and

(b) to have made the work in circumstances not falling within subsection (2), subsection (3) or subsection (4) of section four of this Act.

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