§2 (1) (i).
dent contractor whom he commissions to execute work for him, unless he expressly or impliedly authorises him to commit the infringement. Thus, where a company ordered a poster to be prepared as an advertisement of a forthcoming exhibition and merely gave general directions to the artist as to the scheme and subject-matter, and the artist, without their knowledge or authority, infringed the copyright in a photograph, it was held that the company had not caused or procured the infringement[1]. It is submitted that, under the new Act, a man is still liable for the acts of his servants and agents; in the case of his servants, whether he has or has not authorised the infringement; in the case of other agents, then only if he has authorised the wrongful appropriation.
The protection granted under the general definition of copyright in sect. 1 is so absolutely prohibitive of any use in the nature of a reproduction of the whole or any part of the author's work, that it is necessary to introduce the exceptions specified in sub-section (i). It would hardly have been safe to have left it entirely to the Court to say what exceptions should or should not be admitted upon the analogy of the case law decided under the Copyright Act, 1842.
"Fair dealing."Five classes of user are specified under sub-section (i) as being in the public domain, provided such user does not exceed the limits of fair dealing. Probably, the limits of fair dealing arc exceeded whenever the user is such that it must naturally compete with and injure the sale of the original work.
"Private study."The express recognition of the right to use a work for the purpose of private study is new. The making of digests, abridgments, and possibly translations of a whole work will be permissible for the purpose of private study. Likewise, the making of a complete copy of a work of art. So long as a work is utilised in this manner, solely for the personal instruction of the person so utilising it. it would, undoubtedly, be a fair dealing. More difficult questions may arise where copies of a digest, abridgment or translation of a work are multiplied for the use of classes and societies. It may be said that such copies are made for "private study," and the question will be- ↑ Bolton v. London Exhibitions (1898). 14 T. L. R. 550.
