Fine Arts Copyright Act 1862
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
(25 & 26 Vict.) C A P. LXVIII.
[29th July 1862]
'WHEREAS by Law, as now established, the Authors of Paintings, Drawings, and Photographs have no Copyright in such their Works, and it is expedient that the Law should in that respect be amended:' Be it therefore enacted by the Queen'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, as follows:
1 Copyright in Works hereafter made or sold to vest in the Author for his Life and for Seven Years after his Death.
1. The Author, being aBritish Subject or resident within the Dominions of the Crown, of every original Painting, Drawing, and Photograph which shall be or shall have been made either in the British Dominions or elsewhere, and which shall not have been sold or disposed of before the Commencement of this Act, and his Assigns, shall have the sole and exclusive Right of copying, engraving, reproducing, and multiplying such Painting or Drawing, and the Design thereof, or such Photograph, and the Negative thereof, by any Means and of any Size, for the Term of the natural Life of such Author, and Seven Years after his Death; provided that when any Painting or Drawing, or the Negative of any Photograph, shall for the First Time after the passing of this Act be sold or disposed of, or shall be made or executed for or on behalf of any other Person for a good or a valuable Consideration, the Person so selling or disposing of or making or executing the same shall not retain the Copyright thereof, unless it be expressly reserved to him by Agreement in Writing, signed, at or before the Time of such Sale or Disposition, by the Vendee or Assignee of such Painting or Drawing, or of such Negative of a Photograph, or by the Person for or on whose Behalf the same shall be so made or executed, but the Copyright shall belong to the Vendee or Assignee of such Painting or Drawing, or of such Negative of a Photograph, or to the Person for or on whose Behalf the same shall have been made or executed; nor shall the Vendee or Assignee thereof be entitled to any such Copyright, unless at or before the Time of such Sale or Disposition, an Agreement in Writing, signed by the Person so selling or disposing of the same, or by his Agent duly authorized, shall have been made to that Effect.
2 Not to prejudice certain Rights.
2. Nothing herein contained shall prejudice the Right of any Person to copy or use any Work in which there shall be no Copyright, or to represent any Scene or Object, notwithstanding that there may be Copyright in some Representation of such Scene or Object.
3 Assignments, Licences, &c. to be in Writing.
3. All Copyright under this Act shall be deemed Personal or Moveable Estate, and shall be assignable at Law, and every Assignment thereof, and every Licence to use or copy by any Means or Process the Design or Work which shall be the Subject of such Copyright, shall be made by some Note or Memorandum in Writing, to be signed by the Proprietor of the Copyright, or by his Agent appointed for that Purpose in Writing.
4 Register of Proprietors of Copyright in Paintings, Drawings, and Photographs to be kept at Stationers Hall as in 5 & 6 Vict. c. 45.
4. There shall be kept at the Hall of the Stationers Company, by the Officer appointed by the said Company for the Purposes of the Act passed in the Sixth Year of Her present Majesty, intituledAn Act to amend the Law of Copyright , a Book or Books, entitled ‘The Register of Proprietors of Copyright in Paintings, Drawings, and Photographs,’ wherein shall be entered a Memorandum of every Copyright to which any Person shall be entitled under this Act, and also of every subsequent Assignment of any such Copyright; and such Memorandum shall contain a Statement of the Date of such Agreement or Assignment, and of the Names of the Parties thereto, and of the Name and Place of Abode of the Person in whom such Copyright shall be vested by virtue thereof, and of the Name and Place of Abode of the Author of the Work...
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