c. 19), "on account that the translator had bestowed his pains upon
it." In _Millar_ v. _Taylor_,[646] Yates, J., and in _Prince Albert_ v. _Strange_,[647] Knight Bruce, V. C., suggest that a translation is not an infringement. In _Wyatt_ v. _Barnard_[648] it was held that a translation would be protected as a new work, but it does not follow that it is not an infringement of an old one. I think that these English _dicta_ are practically useless as authorities, since it cannot now be maintained that the translator will be permitted to take the work of an original author merely because he "bestows his pains upon it." In _Murray_ v. _Bogue_,[649] Kindersley, V. C., said that if an English book were translated into a foreign language and then retranslated into English without authority such translation would be an infringement of the original work. If this is so, it is difficult to see why the translation into the foreign language is not also an infringement if done without authority. The translation and the retranslation appear to be exactly on the same footing, both take the substance of the book, the plot, the arrangement, the selection of material; neither takes the author's words. If it is said that one competes with the original which the other does not, the answer is that it is no defence to say that an infringement is made for a wholly different market from that which the original commands.[650] An author is entitled not only to the uses which he does make of his work, but also to the uses which he might make of it.
=Licence.=--A licence in writing[651] granted by the plaintiff to the defendant is a good defence to an action for infringement. The licence need not be written or signed by the proprietor himself. It may be granted by an agent having authority.[652] It would seem that a licence might be valid without being signed by any one. The onus of proving a written licence lies upon the defendant in an action. An assignee of the copyright is not bound by the licence granted by his assignor, unless at the date of assignment he has notice of the licence.[653] A licence, unlike an assignment, may be given before the copyright has come into existence, or even before the work is composed.[654] A licence from the Dramatic Authors' Society was held to include the dramas composed by the members of the society after the date of the licence.[655]
If an oral licensor were to sue in respect of acts done by the defendant under his oral licence, the plaintiff's conduct would probably be considered fraudulent, with the result that he would be refused an injunction, get nominal damages, and have to pay the defendant's costs.[656]
It need hardly be said that when the use for which a book is published and sold includes a copying of the whole or part of it, such copying is not an infringement, even although no express consent in writing is obtained from the author, for instance, in the case of copy-books, school maps, precedents of conveyancing. This, however, does not entitle any one who uses the book to make a larger use of it in the way of multiplying copies than that which must be presumed from the nature of the publication.[657]
It has been suggested that a foreigner resident abroad, who had obtained a copyright in the United Kingdom, could grant an oral licence, if by the law of copyright in his own country an oral licence would be valid.[658] I do not think this is sound.
=Abandonment.=--Copyright may be abandoned by giving a general licence to print. Probably, however, this could only be done by some declaration in writing.[659] The Common Law right in an unpublished manuscript might be abandoned by leaving it for a long time in the hands of others.[660] Copyright would not be lost or abandoned by the fact of a book, during the life of the author, being allowed to remain out of print.[661]
=Acquiescence and Delay.=--This is no ground of defence, unless in the view of the Court it would make it a fraud afterwards to insist on the legal right. It would seem that the defendant must show some act on the part of the plaintiff inducing the defendant to infringe or continue an infringement of the copyright.[662] At the best, the defence is only an equitable one, and will avail no more than to prevent the plaintiff from getting an injunction or substantial damages, and as the costs are always in the discretion of the Court, he might be ordered to pay the defendant's costs.
=Provision against the Suppression of Books.=--After the death of an author, if the proprietor of his published work refuses to republish it, and the book is thereby withheld from the public, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council may, on complaint, grant a licence to the complainant to publish such book on such conditions as they may think fit.[663] There is no record of any attempt to put in force the provisions of this section.