Copyright Infringement
Any pirated copies of work were forfeit, to become the property of the proprietor of the copyright, and could be recovered from their publisher by legal action. All editions published outside British jurisdiction were illegal; only the copyright proprietor was permitted to import them, and any unauthorized imports were likewise forfeit. Any illegally imported copies could be seized by customs agents, and fined on conviction at a rate of £10 plus double the value of each copy of the book.
The Act extended throughout the British Empire. It was repealed by sections 36 and 37(2) of, and schedule 3 to, the Copyright Act 1911.
Read more about this topic: Copyright Act 1842
Famous quotes containing the word infringement:
“The life of a good man will hardly improve us more than the life of a freebooter, for the inevitable laws appear as plainly in the infringement as in the observance, and our lives are sustained by a nearly equal expense of virtue of some kind. The decaying tree, while yet it lives, demands sun, wind, and rain no less than the green one. It secretes sap and performs the functions of health. If we choose, we may study the alburnum only. The gnarled stump has as tender a bud as the sapling.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)