Prints Copyright Act 1777

AN ACT for more effectually securing the Property of Prints to Inventors and Engravers by enabling them to sue for and recover Penalties in certain Cases.

WHEREAS an Act of Parliament passed in the eighth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, intituled "An Act for the encouragement of the arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints, by vesting the properties thereof in the inventors and engravers during the time therein mentioned:" And whereas by an Act of Parliament passed in the seventh year of the reign of his present Majesty for amending and rendering more effectual the aforesaid Act, and for other purposes therein mentioned, it was (among other things) enacted, that from and after the first day of January one thousand seven hundred and sixty seven all and every person or persons who should engrave, etch or work in mezzotinto or chiaro oscuro, or cause to be engraved, etched or worked any print taken from any picture, drawing, model or sculpture, either ancient or modern, should have and were thereby declared to have the benefit and protection of the said former Act and that Act, for the term therein-after mentioned, in like manner as if such print had been graved or drawn from the original design of such graver, etcher or draughtsman: And whereas the said Acts have not effectually answered the purposes for which they were intended, and it is necessary for the encouragement of artists, and for securing to them the property of and in their works, and for the advancement and improvement of the aforesaid arts, that such further provisions should be made as are herein-after mentioned and contained: May it therefore please your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the twenty-fourth day of June one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, if any engraver, etcher, print-seller or other person shall, within the time limited by the aforesaid Acts or either of them, engrave, etch or work or cause or procure to be engraved, etched or worked, in mezzotinto or chiaro oscuro or otherwise, or in any other manner copy in the whole or in part, by varying, adding to or diminishing from the main design, or shall print, reprint or import for sale, or cause or procure to be printed, reprinted or imported for sale, or shall publish, sell or otherwise dispose of, or cause or procure to be published, sold or otherwise disposed of, any copy or copies of any historical print or prints, or any print or prints of any portrait, conversation, landscape or architecture, map, chart or plan, or any other print or prints whatsoever, which hath or have been or shall be engraved, etched, drawn or designed in any part of Great Britain, without the express consent of the proprietor or proprietors thereof first had and obtained in writing signed by him, her or them respectively, with his, her or their own hand or hands, in the presence of and attested by two or more credible witnesses, then every such proprietor or proprietors shall and may, by and in a special action upon the case to be brought against the person or persons so offending, recover such damages as a jury on the trial of such action, or on the execution of a writ of inquiry thereon, shall give or assess, together with double costs of suit.