§ Sir GODFREY BARINGasked whether the Berlin Copyright Convention has yet been ratified by His Majesty's Government on behalf of Great Britain; how many of the countries which sent representatives to the International Copyright Conference held at Berlin in 1908 have ratified the Convention to date; and if the President of the Board of Trade could inform the House when the Orders in Council under Part II of the Copyright Act, 1911, extending the benefits of the Act to the authors of works first published in such countries will be made, and the Regulations of the Board of Trade under various Sections of the same Act issued?
Mr. BUXTONThe Berlin Copyright Convention of 1908 has not yet been ratified by His Majesty's Government. Of the sixteen countries which were members of the Berne Copyright Union at the date of the International Conference held at Berlin in 1908, twelve have up to the present ratified the Berlin Copyright Convention, I am unable at present to fix a date for the issue of Orders in Council and Regulations under the Copyright Act, 1911, but the Regulations are now under consideration, and their issue will, I hope, not be long delayed.