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Copyright Act, 1911.

§1 (1).

lished manuscripts, however secret and confidential they may be.

Provided the author possesses the necessary qualification as above indicated, all unpublished works receive statutory protection from the time they are created, that is to say, from the date of uttering in the case of a work orally communicated and from the date of making in the case of a work produced in permanent form. Letters, speeches, and sermons all fall within this principle, and thus the difficulties under the old law of determining the rights of those who deliver or report speeches[1] or who write or publish letters are almost entirely swept away[2]. In each case a copyright, which includes the exclusive right of publishing or delivering a speech or of publishing a letter, vests in the speaker of the speech or the writer of the letter. That copyright can only be assigned in writing, and therefore there can be no question of abandonment to the public or to the recipient of a letter.

Existing law.—Unpublished works, whether the works of British subjects or foreigners, and wherever situate, are protected by the common law from infringement in the British dominions[3]. This common law right is a proprietary right, and gives the author and his representatives the exclusive right of multiplying copies of or publishing the literary or artistic matter in the work[4]. This principle has been applied so as to protect the author's right in unpublished manuscript[5], unpublished plays[6] and lectures[7], letters[8], collected news distributed from a news agency[9], un-
  1. ↑ Walter v. Lane, [1900] A. C. 539.
  2. ↑ Macmillan v. Dent, [1907] 1 Ch. 107; Philip v. Pennell [1907] 2 Ch. 577.
  3. ↑ Millar v. Taylor (1769), 4 Burr. 2303. 2379; Donaldson v. Beckett (1774), 2 Bro. P. C. 129; Cob. Pari. Hist., Vol. 17, p. 954.
  4. ↑ Millar v. Taylor (1769) 4 Burr 2303, 2379; Caird v. Sime (1887), 12 A. C. 326; Prince Albert v. Strange (1849), 1 McN. & G. 25: 2 De G. & Sm. 652, 691, 693; Mansell v. Valley Printing Co., [1908] 2 Ch. 441.
  5. ↑ Forrester v. Walker (1741), 4 Burr. 2408; Webb v. Pose (1732) Amb. 694.
  6. ↑ Macklin v. Richardson (1770), Amb. 694.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ Pope v. Curl (1741). 2 Atk. 342; Duke of Queensberry v. Shebbeare (1758), 2 Eden, 329; Thompson v. Stanhope (1774), Amb. 737; Earl of Granard v. Dunkin (1809), 1 Ball & B. 207; Lord Perceval v. Phipps (1813), 2 V. & B. 19. 24; Gee v. Pritchard (1818), 2 Swans. 402; Oliver v. Oliver (1861), 11 C. B. (N. S.) 139; Howard v. Gunn (1863), 32 Beav. 462; Hopkinson v. Lord Burghley (1867), L. R. 2 Ch. 447; Earl of Lytton v. Devey (1884), 54 L. J. Ch. 293.
  9. ↑ Exchange Telegraph v. Gregory, [1896] 1 Q. B. 147; Exchange Telegraph v. Central News, [1897] 2 Ch. 48.
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