§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask Mr. Attorney General for Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the cases of Green v. The Freeman's Journal, decided by the Irish Court of Appeal in 1899, and that of Hildesheimer v. Faulkner, decided on 2nd August, 1901, by the Court of Appeal in England; whether he is aware that in the former case the court held that, under the Fine Arts Copyright Act, 1861, the court were bound to affix a separate penalty in the case of every infringement, and damages of one farthing were inflicted for every copy of a newspaper printed in which appeared a small copyright design, and that these penalties amounted to about £146, whereas in the English case referred to the Court of Appeal held that Section 6 of the Copyright Act referred to did not enable the court to assess damages amounting to money of the realm for each offence; and whether Mr. Attorney General will advise the Government to introduce legislation to assimilate the construction of the provisions of the Fine Arts Copyright Act of 1881 in England and Ireland.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. ATKINSON, Londonderry, N.)My attention has been called to the matter referred to. It is quite possible that the last-mentioned case may be taken to the House of Lords, and the law on this point finally settled. It is therefore premature to make any promise of legislation on this subject.