was in existence, British copyright works were openly printed in the
United States, and imported into Canada without payment of the duty, to
the exclusion of British editions. So long as this arrangement remained in
force, a British copyright owner could not prevent the importation into
Canada of pirated editions of his work, unless he reprinted the work in
Canada and copyrighted it under the Canadian copyright laws. The
arrangement was terminated by the Canadian Parliament in 1895 at the
instance of Sir John Thompson.

Every lover of books will remember that during the continuance of the
arrangement, a Canadian Publishing Trade hardly existed, and that the
reading public who bought books were compelled in a great measure to
satisfy themselves with American reprints, of so little value that
specimens of them are now regarded almost as curiosities.

Prior to 1887, a Canadian author was entitled to little protection under
the Copyright Laws of European countries, and prior to 1891 was entitled
to no protection whatever under the Copyright Laws of the United States.
In 1886 the Imperial Parliament passed an Act which provides in effect,
that the British Copyright Acts shall apply to a book first produced in
Canada or any other British possession, in like manner as they apply to a
work first produced in the United Kingdom. If the book is copyrighted at
Ottawa, a certificate of registration signed by the Minister of
Agriculture is proof in all Courts throughout the Empire of the existence
of such copyright. No registration in England is required.

In 1887, a comparatively uniform system of International Copyright was
established under the Berne Convention, which applies to the British
Empire, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Norway,
Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, Tunis, Hayti and Montenegro. These countries