Page:Copyright, Its History And Its Law (1912).djvu/428

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396

COPYRIGHT

the Collectors of Customs at Bombay, Madras and Calcutta as well as through the London customs.

South Africa South Africa, the latest of the British self-govern- ing dominions as organized in 1910 into a Union, has not yet adopted a general copyright code, which it may do under the precedent of Australia or after passage of the new British copyright code, by ac- ceptance of that code or by independent legislation. Meantime its copyright relations are those of the for- mer separate colonies, as the Cape Colony, Natal and other English colonies, following in the main Eng- lish precedent, and the Transvaal and other Dutch colonies, following Holland precedent, including a requirement for printing within the country as a pre-requisite for copyright.

Cape Colony The Cape Colony, under acts of 1873, 1880, 1888 and 1895, provided local copyright for life and five years or thirty years, whichever the longer, four copies of a book or printed play first published in the colony to be deposited for registration by the printer within one month from delivery from the press, for registration with the Registrar of Deeds, these copies to be transmitted to designated libraries. Telegraph dispatches in newspapers were protected by the act of 1880, for 120 hours. Lists of copyrighted works are printed in the government gazette and thus com- municated to the colonial customs authorities.

Natal Natal, under acts of 1895, 1897 and 1898, provided

local protection for the regular British term, two copies to be deposited with the Colonial Secretary for registration, within three months from publication. Messages by telegraph, pigeons and other special dis- patch were protected by the act of 1895, for 72 hours. To protect a play, the title, if in manuscript, or a printed copy, must be registered precedent to local action. Probably failure to deposit in these colonies