Protection of this class of French authors is a leading feature of the new
treaty. The last preceding (of 1861) provided that in the absence of a
contract establishing the terms upon which French dramatic and musical
compositions might be represented in Belgium, compensation for each
representation should be upon the basis of the following tariff:
M. Cattreux, in his pamphlet, gives the following illustration of the
practical working of the tariff in connection with the Theâtre Monnaie of
Brussels, the principal opera house in Belgium.
The new treaty abolishes this tariff and makes the matter of compensation one
of contract with dramatic authors and composers.
The right of translation is reserved to the author by the new treaty for ten
years instead of five, and three years instead of three months are granted
for the first publication of a translation.
The minister of foreign affairs in his “Exposè des Motifs” recognizes the
fact that the new treaty will lessen the power of the Flemish theater to
draw from French sources, but finds compensation for their loss in the fact
that the Flemish element will be compelled to rely more upon original
Belgian productions, and so bring itself into closer sympathy with the
national spirit.
[Inclosure in No. 140.]
Translation of proposed treaty between Belgium and
France for protection of literary property and of commercial and
trade marks
Article 1. The authors of books, pamphlets, or
other writings, dramatic works, musical compositions, works of design or
illustrations of painting, sculpture, engraving, lithography,
photography, and all other similar productions of a literary or artistic
character, shall enjoy in each of the two states reciprocally the
advantages which are or shall be granted by law to the proprietorship of
works of literature or art; and they shall have the same protection and
the same legal recourse against every encroachment upon their rights as
if such encroachment had been made in respect to the authors of works
published for the first time in the same country. Nevertheless
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these advantages shall be
reciprocally enjoyed only during the period of their right in the
country of original publication, and the period of their protection in
the other country shall not exceed that fixed by law for its own
citizens. Property in musical works is extended to portions called
arrangements, consisting of the principal phrases extracted from the
same works; controversies which may arise as to the application of this
clause shall be settled by the tribunals of the respective countries.
Every privilege or advantage which may hereafter be accorded by one of
the two countries to any other country in the matter of property in
works of literature or art defined in the present article, shall be
enjoyed as of full right by the citizens of the other country.
Art. 2. The publication in Belgium of classic
extracts composed of portions or extracts of French authors is
authorized, provided the collections are specially destined for
educational purposes.
Art. 3. To secure for all the works of mind or
art the protection stipulated in article 1 of this convention, and to
enable the authors or editors of such works to prosecute before the
tribunals of the two countries persons violating their rights, it shall
be sufficient in order that such authors or editors may justify their
rights of property, to establish the same by a certificate emanating
from competent public authority of each country that the work in
question is an original work, which, in the country where it has been
published, enjoys legal protection against the pirating of the same, or
its unlawful reproduction. For works published in France, this
certificate shall be furnished by the office of the library of the
minister of the interior, and legalized by the legation of Belgium at
Paris; for works published in Belgium, it shall be delivered by the
minister of the interior at Brussels, and legalized by the French
legation.
Art. 4. The stipulations of article 1 shall be
equally applicable to the representation or execution of dramatic or
musical works published or represented for the first time in either of
the two countries after May 12, 1854. The right of dramatic authors or
composers shall be recognized acccording to the bases agreed upon by the
two parties interested.
Art. 5. Translations made in either of the two
countries of national or foreign works are expressly placed upon the
same basis as the original works. These translations shall have, as
such, the protection stipulated by article 1, in that which relates to
their reproduction.
Art. 6. The author of every work published in
either country shall have the sole right of publication for ten years
from the date of original publication, subject to the following
conditions:
- 1st.
- The author shall indicate at the opening of his work his
intention to reserve the right of translation.
- 2d.
- The authorized translation shall appear complete within three
years from the date of the original work.
- 3d.
- For works published in numbers it shall be sufficient if the
reserved right of translation appear in the first number.
Nevertheless, in relation to the limit of ten years specified in
this article for the exercise of the right of translation, each
number shall be regarded as a distinct work.
- 4th.
- Relative to the publication and representation by translation
of dramatic works, the author who would reserve the exclusive
right in regard to the subject of this article must have his
translation appear or be represented within three years after
the publication or representation of the original work.
In case any Belgian legislation relating to the right of translation
shall be modified during the existence of the present convention, the
new advantage which may be secured to Belgian authors shall be equally
enjoyed by French authors. At the same time Belgian authors shall enjoy
in France the fullest advantages which may be enjoyed from general
legislation in favor of French citizens.
These respective rights shall be, moreover, subject to the conditions
named in paragraph 2 of article 1.
Art. 7. The legal representatives and assignees
of authors, translators, composers, painters, sculptors, lithographers,
engravers, photographers, &c., shall enjoy the same rights as the
present convention accords to authors, composers, designers, painters,
sculptors, lithographers, engravers, or photographers themselves.
Art. 8. Notwithstanding the provisions of
articles 1 and 5 of this present convention, articles taken from
journals or periodical publications published in one of the two
countries can be reproduced or translated in the journals or periodical
publications of the other country, provided the source from which they
are taken is indicated. Nevertheless this permission shall not extend to
the reproduction in either country of articles from journals or
periodical magazines published in the other, when their authors shall
have formally declared in the journal or magazine when they shall have
appeared that they have prohibited their reproduction. In no case shall
this prohibition be applicable to articles of political discussion.
Art. 9. The introduction, the exportation, the
circulation, the sale, and exposition, in either of the two states, of
works or objects reproduced without authority, defined
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by articles 1, 4, 5, and 6, are prohibited
when the unauthorized reproduction comes from one of the two countries,
or from any foreign country whatsoever.
Art. 10. In case of the violation of the
provisions of the preceding articles, the pirated works shall be subject
to seizure, and the tribunal shall impose the penalties fixed by the
laws of the respective countries in the same way as if the violation had
been committed to the prejudice of a work or a production of national
origin. The printed works (les caractères) constituting the piracy shall
be ascertained by the tribunals of the respective countries according to
legislation in force in each of the two states.
Art. 11. Books of lawful importation and other
productions mentioned in the present convention coming from Belgium
shall continue to be admitted in France, as well to remain there as for
transit direct or for entry in the custom-house by the offices now or
which may hereafter be open. If parties interested desire, books
declared for entry shall be sent directly in France to the minister of
the interior, and in Belgium to the entrepot of Brussels for the
necessary verifications, which shall take place, at the latest, within
fifteen days.
Art. 12. The provisions of the present
convention shall not prejudice, in any degree, the right which may
pertain to either of the high contracting powers to permit the
surveillance or prohibition by measures provided by law, or by the
internal police, of the circulation, representation, or exposition of
every work or production in regard to which the competent authority may
exercise that right.
Each of the high contracting powers reserves, moreover, the right to
prohibit the importation in their respective states of books which, by
their own internal laws or stipulations, entered into with other powers,
are, or may be declared to be, pirated works.
Art. 13. The Belgian Government and the French
Government shall take the necessary measures to prohibit the entry upon
their respective territories of works which the Belgian and French
editors shall have acquired the right to reprint, with the reserve that
the reprints are authorized to be sold only in Belgium and in France and
in other countries. The works to which this provision is applicable
should bear upon the title page and cover the words edition prohibited
(in Belgium) in France and authorized for
(France) Belgium and foreign countries.
Art. 14. Belgians in France, and reciprocally
French citizens in Belgium, shall enjoy the same protection with their
own citizens in everything which relates to property in trade or
commercial marks, as well as designs and industrial and manufacturing
models of every description.
The exclusive right of working a design or industrial or manufacturing
model cannot have for the benefit of Belgian citizens in France, and
reciprocally for French citizens in Belgium, a longer duration than that
granted by the law of the country for its own citizens.
If the design or industrial or manufacturing model is public property in
the country of its origin, it cannot be the object of any exclusive
proprietorship in the other country.
The provisions of the two preceding paragraphs are applicable to trade
and commercial marks.
The rights of Belgian citizens in France, and reciprocally of French
citizens in Belgium, are not subordinated to the obligation to work the
models or the industrial or manufacturing designs.
Art. 15. The citizens of either of the two
countries who would secure in the other proprietorship in a mark, model,
or design, must comply with the formalities prescribed for that purpose
by the respective legislation of the two states.
Trade-marks to which articles 14 and 15 of this convention are
applicable, are those which in both countries are legitimately acquired
by manufacturers or traders, which they use; that is to say, that the
character of a French trade-mark is to be determined by French law, as
that of a Belgian mark is to be determined by Belgian law.
Art. 16. The present convention shall go into
force at the same time as the commercial treaty and the convention as to
navigation concluded to-day by the high contracting parties, and shall
continue until 1st February, 1892.
In case neither of the high contracting parties shall have notified, a
year in advance of the time of its expiration, its intention to suspend
its operations, the convention shall continue to be obligatory for an
additional year, and so on from year to year from the day when one of
the parties shall have declared its purpose to put an end to the
convention.
Art. 17. The present convention shall be
ratified and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Paris before 1st
February, 1882, and simultaneously with those of the treaty of commerce
and the convention of navigation concluded this day between the high
contracting parties.
In faith of which, &c.
Signed in double at
Paris
October 21,
1881.
