States, the ground of objection being, that the enactment of the Congress
of the United States and the President's proclamation of July 1st, 1891,
extending the benefits of the Chace Bill to all British subjects, did not
constitute "an International Copyright Treaty" within the meaning of the
Canadian Copyright Act, which provides, as pointed out above, that _any
person domiciled in Canada or any part of the British possessions, or
being a citizen of any country having an International Copyright Treaty
with the United Kingdom_, who is an author of any book, etc., shall have
the sole right of printing, publishing, etc., for a number of years on
certain conditions. This is a narrow construction of the Canadian Act, and
savours somewhat of smartness and sharp practice. I believe it is not a
fair construction and is certainly not in accord with the spirit and
manifest intention of the Act. I am not alone in entertaining this opinion
which still remains to be tested.

In February, 1897, the United States Government proposed the negotiation
of a Copyright Convention which would expressly meet this allegation of
the Canadian Government. This proposal the Canadian Government declined to
entertain.

Far greater liberality in copyright matters is shown in the United States
to Canadian authors, than is shown in Canada to American authors. A
Canadian author can secure copyright in the United States if he prints his
work in that country, and publishes contemporaneously with the publication
in Canada. An American author parting with his rights for Canada to a
Canadian publisher who may print an edition in Canada, cannot, as the law
is interpreted at Ottawa, secure any protection in the Canadian market
until after the book has been registered at Stationers' Hall in London.
As the law is construed in England, an author who desires to secure
British copyright by publication in Canada must comply with the Canadian