This is a new section also. There is no specific statutory provision under existing law to cover the situation where the bankrupt's property includes the copyright in any work and he is liable to pay royalties to the author in respect of it. Section 48 therefore provides that (a) the author of the work should receive royalties in full where the Official Assignee sells any copies of the work or authorises it to be performed, and (b) the Official Assignee may not sell or grant any interest in the copyright except with the author's consent and subject to the payment of whatever royalty or share of the profits that the bankrupt would have been liable to pay in those circumstances. The committee recommended the inclusion of this section on the analogy of section 60 of the English Bankruptcy Act, 1914 which was enacted to counter a decision of an English court to the effect that on the bankruptcy of a publisher the trustee in bankruptcy was not obliged to pay royalties to an author and the author's only remedy was to prove in the bankruptcy for damages for breach of contract.
SECTION 48.
Question proposed: "That section 48 stand part of the Bill."
Question put and agreed to.