mentPersons
liable for
infringement, especially of playright, is one of some difficulty. In general, while any one participating in a piratical performance, as an actor, is technically guilty of infringement, it is usually the person or persons responsible for and profiting by the performance who should be sued. The question of responsibility is one of fact, and the early English decisions seem confused and even contradictory. Principal in
controlThe person who has the initiative and control of a performance, particularly if he is directly the employer of the performers and hcis authority to discharge them, may be, par excellence, the infringer even if he does not know that the performance is piratical. In 1886, in Monaghan v. Taylor, the defendant was held liable for infringement because a singer employed in his music hall sang a copyright song, though the defendant did not choose or pass upon the number. Thereafter in the "copyright (musical composition) act" of 1888, it was provided that "the proprietor, tenant or occupier of any place of dramatic entertainment" shall not be liable, "unless he shall willfully cause or permit" a performance, "knowing it to be unauthorized." The courts seem disposed to acquit a mere agent of responsibility. In 1893, in French v. Day, Gregory, et al., it was held by Justice Kennedy as to a performance of "The miner's wife" asserted to be an infringement of "Lost in London," that the proprietor of the theatre, Day, "who merely used Gregory," the manager, "as his mouthpiece," was the responsible defendant. The new British code holds liable any person who for profit permits a place of entertainment to be used for an infringing performance unless he were not aware and had no reasonable grounds for suspecting it to be an infringement.
In the prevention or punishment of unauthorized performances by irresponsible private companies, the
