§1 (1)
EXISTING LAW.
Publication of a literary or artistic work in this connexion means communication to the public in general either orally or by means of exhibition, circulation of copies, or otherwise[1]. The following acts of communication are, for instance, not deemed to be a publication so as to divest the common law right: (i) private or business letters sent to a correspondent or shown to friends or other interested persons[2]); (ii) a manuscript or artistic work delivered or exhibited to a friend for his personal perusal or view, or to a publisher or other person or persons with a view to obtaining his or their opinion, or arranging for the publication or sale of the work[3]; (iii) a book or artistic work printed or otherwise multiplied and distributed among a limited class, such as friends of the author or members of a society[4]; (iv) a work of art exhibited in a place to which the public are admitted only upon payment and subject to rules prohibiting, inter alia, the making of any sketches or copies of the picture[5]; (v) a dramatic or musical work performed in a theatre or other place to which the public are admitted for payment on the implied understanding that they are admitted solely for their entertainment and amusement[6]; (vi) a lecture delivered to a class of students in a university, or to any other limited class of the public, or in a place to which the public are admitted for payment, in each case upon the implied understanding that the lecture is delivered solely for the instruction of those present[7].
- ↑ Caird v. Sime (1887). 12 A. C. 32G; Macmillan v. Dent, [1907] 1 Ch. 107; Jewellers v. Jewellers (1895), 84 Hun. 12.
- ↑ Pope v. Carl (1741), 2 Atk. 342.
- ↑ Caird v. Sims (1887), 12 A. C. 326. See, however, Blank v. Footman (1888), 39 Ch. D. 678; Southey v. Sherwood (1817), 2 Mer. 435.
- ↑ Prince Albert v. Strange (1849). 2 De G. & Sm. 652; Kenrick v. Danube Collieries (1891), 39 W. R. 473; Exchange Telegraph v. Central News, [1897] 2 Ch. 48.
- ↑ Werckmeister v. American Lithograph Co. (1904), 134 Fed. Rep. 321; Turner v. Robinson (1860), 10 Ir. Ch. 121, 510.
- ↑ Macklin v. Richardson (1770) Amb. 694; D'Almaine v. Boosey (1835), 1 Y. & C, Ex. 288.
- ↑ Abernethy v. Hutchinson (1825), 3 L. J. (O. S.) Ch. 209; Caird v. Sime (1887), 12 A. C. 326; Nicols v. Pitman (1884), 26 Ch. D. 374.
- ↑ Scott v. Stanford (1867), L. R. 3 Eq. 718: Barfield v. Nicholson (1824), 2 Sim. & Stu. 1; Hatton v. Kean (1859), 7 C. B. (N. S.) 268; Wallerstein v. Herbert (1867), L. T. 453.