H— 10A

1928. NE W ZEAL A N D.

INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT CONFERENCE. ROME, 1928. (REPORT OF THE NEW ZEALAND DELEGATE, Mr. S. G. RAYMOND, K.C.)

Presented to the House of Representatives by Leave.

I. THE CONFERENCE—THE DELEGATIONS—THE PROCEEDINGS. The Conference was held at the Palazzo Corsini, Rome. It opened on Monday, 7th May, 1928, and continued until the 2nd June, 1928, when the final sitting was held, and a Convention was signed by representatives of nearly all the States of the Copyright Union. The convention, a copy of which is sent with this report, is subject to ratification by the Governments of the various countries of the Union. Delegates from sixty-nine countries took part in the Conference, representing thirty-nine countries of the Copyright Union and thirty countries not of the Copyright Union. There was also present, and assisting, delegates from the Secretariat of the League of Nations, the International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation, and the International Bureau for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. There were present 169 delegates and experts. More than 150 amendments of the last previous convention —that of Berlin, 1908—were proposed and discussed. Accompanying this report are documents containing the proposals distributed either through the Bureau of Berne before the opening of the Conference or by the Bureau of the Conference during its progress. Various memoirs presented to the Conference are also sent herewith. Organization of Conference Proceedings.—The rules of procedure of the Conference at Berlin in 1908 were adopted, with certain minor variations. In the months which preceded the Conference the Italian Administration and the Bureau of Berne prepared and distributed, in conformity with Article 24 of the Berlin Convention, to the Administrations of those countries adhering to the Conference a series of proposals for the amendment of the convention, accompanied by a statement of the reasons or agreements supporting these proposals. During the same period a number of proposed amendments were given notice of to the Bureau by several countries of the Union. All of these proposals for the amendment of the convention are to be found in the accompanying booklet, " Documents Preliminaries, Propositions et Observations des Administrations." At the first sitting of the Conference numerous sub-committees were appointed to deal with particular branches of the activities of the Conference. The general discussions were held, and the greater part of the work was done, by the Conference sitting in committee of the whole. During the Conference a Commission de Redaction (combining the functions of drafting and revision) was set up, and it finally published the valuable Rapport-General of which a copy accompanies this report. List of Delegates.—A complete list of the delegations and delegates is sent herewith. The British Empire was represented by delegations from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Irish Free State, and India. Signatures by British Empire Delegates.- -All the British delegates signed the Convention except the Irish Free State. Irish Free State Objection.—That State proposed that the signatures to the convention be in alphabetical order, the method adopted when the Industrial Property Convention, 1925, was signed. The Irish proposal was, however, objected to by Great Britain and certain other of the Dominion delegates, including New Zealand, as being a departure from the resolutions arrived at by the Imperial Conference, 1926. The Irish Free State delegates protested and abstained from signing, but it may adhere later on, as allowed by article 27 (3). Its protest is to be found on page 24 of the Report of the Deuxieme Seance Pleniere sent herewith. Ratification, Ist July, 1931. —The Rome Convention, if accepted by New Zealand, must be ratified and ratifications exchanged at Rome not later than the Ist July, 1931. Brussels Sitting, 1935.—The next Conference is fixed for Brussels, in 1935,