Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 6, 1886
No. 14.
Mr. Tree to
Mr. Bayard.
Brussels, March 18, 1886. (Received March 31.)
Sir: Referring to my numbers 30 and 43, with reference to the projet of law concerning the rights of authors, I have the honor to inform you that the amendment which the Senate had added to the 14th [Page 24] article, in making the protection afforded by that article apply to telegrams as well as to other writings, was rejected by the Chamber of Deputies on its return to that body, and the article restored to its form as originally adopted by the Chamber. Two or three days since the Senate receded from its amendment, and passed the projet as it came for the second time from the Chamber.
This law has been very carefully studied by Belgian publicists, and was thoroughly discussed in both of the legislative chambers. The subject has been before the Belgian Parliament since 1877 in some form, and very general satisfaction is expressed here in the newspapers and literary circles at the adoption of the law.
I inclose you herewith a copy of the law in the form in which it will go to the King for approval. It is substantially the same as the one of which I have already sent a translation.
I have, &c.,
belgian senate draft of a law concerning the rights of authors.
Leopold II, King of the Belgians, to all whom it may concern, greeting:
The Chambers have adopted and we approve the following:
Section I.—Of the rights of authors generally.
Article 1. The author of a literary or artistic work has alone the right to reproduce it, or to authorize its reproduction in any manner and under any form whatsoever.
Art. 2. This right continues through a period of fifty years from the author’s death for the benefit of his heirs or assigns.
Art. 3, The right of the author is personal, assignable, and transmissible, in whole or in part, conformably to the rules of the civil code.
Art. 4. The owners of a posthumous work enjoy the author’s right during a period of fifty years, commencing to run from the day on which it is published, represented, rendered, or exhibited.
A royal decree shall determine the manner of ascertaining the date from which the period of fifty years shall begin to run.
Art. 5. When the work is the result of collaboration the author’s right exists for the benefit of all entitled until fifty years after the death of the survivor of the collaborators.
Art. 6. When the author’s right is unpartitioned, the exercise of this right is defined by the agreements. If there are no agreements, none of the joint owners can exercise it singly, it being reserved for the courts to decide in case of disagreement.
But each of the joint owners is freely entitled to bring suit in his own name, and without joining the others, for any injury which may be inflicted on the author’s right, and to ask damages for his share.
The courts shall always have the power to subject the authority to publish the work to such limitations as they shall see fit to prescribe; they shall have the power to decree, on the petition of the adverse joint owner, that he shall neither share the expense nor the profits of the publication, or that the name of the collaborator shall not appear on the work.
Art. 7. The publisher of an anonymous or pseudonymous work is considered, so far as third parties are concerned, as the author thereof.
As soon as the latter makes himself known, he reassumes the exercise of his right.
Art. 8. The assignee of the author’s right or of the object which embodies a work of literature, music, art, or drawing has not the right to alter the work in order to sell it or derive profit from it, nor to publicly exhibit the altered work without the consent of the author or of those deriving their title from him.
Art. 9. Literary or musical works, so long as they are unpublished, and during the author’s life, other works of art so long as they are not ready for sale or publication, are always free from liability to seizure.
[Page 25]Section II.—Of the author’s right in literary works.
Art. 10. The author’s right extends not only to writings of every character, hut to lessons, sermons, lectures, speeches, or to every other oral expression of thought.
But speeches delivered in deliberative assemblies, during the public sessions of the courts, or at political meetings, may be freely published, but the right of printing them separately belongs to the author only.
Art. 11. The official acts of the governmental authorities do not entitle to the author’s right.
All other publications made by the state or the public departments do entitle to the author’s right, either for the benefit of the state, or these departments, during a period of fifty years, commencing with their date, or for the benefit of the author, if he has not alienated it in favor of the state or these departments. A royal decree shall determine the method of ascertaining the date of the publication.
Art. 12. The author’s right in a literary work includes the exclusive right to make or authorize the translation of it.
Art. 13. The author’s right does not exclude the right of making quotations when they are made for the purpose of criticism, discussion, or instruction.
Art. 14. Every newspaper has the right to reproduce an article published in another newspaper, provided that it indicates the source thereof, unless this article bears the special notice that its reproduction is forbidden.
Art. 15. The right of representation of a literary work is defined in conformity with the provisions relating to musical works.
Section III.—Of the author’s right in musical works.
Art. 16. No musical work can be publicly rendered or represented wholly or partly without the consent of the author.
Art. 17. The author’s right in musical compositions includes the exclusive right of making arrangements on motives of the original work.
Art. 18. In the case of works composed of words or of librettos and music, the composer and the author have not the right to make a contract with a new collaborator respecting their work. Nevertheless, they shall have the right to derive profit from it separately, by means of publications, translations, or public renditions.
Section IV.—Of the author’s right in plastic works.
Art. 19. The transfer of a work of art does not carry with it the assignment of the right of reproduction for the profit of the transferee.
Art. 20. Neither the author nor the owner of a portrait has the right to reproduce it or to exhibit it publicly without the consent of the person represented or of those deriving title from him during the period of twenty years, commencing with his death.
By virtue of the said consent the owner has the right of reproduction, but the copy is not entitled to bear the superscription of an author’s name.
Art. 21.—The work of art reproduced by industrial processes or applied to industry remains, nevertheless, subject to the provisions of the present law.
Section V.—Of piracy and its repression.
Art. 22. Every malicious or fraudulent injury inflicted on the right of the author constitutes the crime of piracy.
Those who knowingly sell, expose, for sale, keep in their shops in order that they may be sold, or bring into Belgian territory for commercial purposes the objects pirated are guilty of the same offense.
Art. 23. The offenses specified in the preceding article shall be punished by a fine of 26 to 2,000 francs. The confiscation of the works or objects pirated, as well as of the plates, molds, or matrices, and other utensils which have directly served to commit these offenses, shall be decreed against those adjudged guilty.
Art. 24. In case of a rendition or representation being had to the prejudice of the author’s rights, it shall be in the power of the police judiciaire to seize the receipts thereof as objects resulting from the offense, and they shall be paid over to the complainant as a credit on the damages due him, but only in proportion to the part which his work has had in the representation or rendition.
Art. 25. The malicious or fraudulent inscription on a work of art, of literature, or of music of the author’s name, or of any distinctive mark chosen by him to designate his work, shall be punished by an imprisonment of three months to two years and by a fine of 100 to 2,000 francs, or by one of these punishments only.
[Page 26]The confiscation of the objects pirated shall be decreed in all cases.
Those who knowingly sell, expose for sale, keep in their shops, or bring into Belgian territory, in order that they may be sold, the objects specified in the first paragraph shall be punished by the same penalties.
Art. 26. For infractions of the present law, except those provided for by article 25, action can only be brought on the complaint of the person who declares himself injured.
Art. 27. If extenuating circumstances exist, the punishments declared by the present law may be reduced, conformably to article 85 of the penal code.
Art. 28. The following provision is added to No. 23 of the first article of the law of March 15, 1874, on extradition: “Also for the offense provided for by article 25 of the law on authors’ rights.”
Section VI.—Civil action growing out of author’s rights.
Art. 29. The parties entitled to the author’s right may, with the authorization of the president of the court of first instance of the place of piracy obtained on their complaint, cause description to be made, by one or more experts to be designated by this judge, of the objects alleged to be pirated or of the acts of the piracy and of the instruments which have directly served to accomplish them.
The president may by the same decree forbid the possessors of the objects pirated from parting with them, allow a keeper to be appointed, or even have the objects put under seal. This decree shall be served by an officer commissioned for that purpose.
In the case of acts causing the receipt of money, the president may, for safekeeping, authorize the seizure of the moneys by an officer commissioned by him.
Art. 30. The complaint shall set out the choice of domicil in the communes where the description is to be made.
The experts shall be sworn by the president before commencing their labors.
Art. 31. The president may require of the complainant the deposit of security. In this case the decree shall not be rendered save on proof that the deposit has been made. Security shall be always required of a foreigner.
Art. 32. The parties may be present at the description if they are specially authorized to be so by the president.
Art. 33. If the doors are closed, or if their opening is refused, it is done in conformance with article 587 of the code of civil procedure.
Art. 34. Copy of the description minutes shall be sent by the experts, under registered letter, with the shortest delay, to the party on whom the seizure is made and to the seizing party.
Art. 35. If, within the space of one week from the date of this transmission, to be proved by the stamp of the post-office, or from the seizure for safe-keeping of the moneys received, appearance has not been entered before the court within whose jurisdiction the description was made, the decree shall of itself become null and void, and the possessor of the objects described or of the moneys seized may demand the delivery of the original of the minutes, with a decree forbidding the complainant to make use of its contents and to publish it, the whole without prejudice to the damages.
Art. 36. The consular jurisdiction has no cognizance of the actions which arise from the present law. The cause shall be decided as a summary and urgent affair.
Art. 37. The moneys and the objects confiscated may be adjudged to the complainant on account, or in satisfaction of the injury suffered.
Section VII.—Rights of foreigners.
Art. 38. Foreigners enjoy in Belgium the rights guaranteed by the present law, without the possibility of the duration of these rights, so far as they are concerned, exceeding the duration thereof fixed by the Belgian law. But if they expire sooner in their own country, they are to cease to exist at the same time in Belgium.
Section VIII.—Temporary provision.
Art. 39. Contracts on the subject lawfully made by virtue of previously existing laws are in no way affected. Authors, or their heirs, whose exclusive rights growing out of these laws are not exhausted at the date of publication of the present law, shall in the future be governed by the latter; if before this publication they have transferred the whole of their rights, the latter shall remain subject to the laws in force at the time of the transfer.
[Page 27]Section IX.—Repeal of existing laws.
Art. 40. All previously existing provisions relating to the author’s right defined by the present law are hereby repealed.
President of the Chamber of Representatives,
The secretary,