Curtis Brown, Ltd. v. Jarvis (1929), 14 TC 744 (K.B.D.)

The appellant, which carried on business in the U.K. as a literary agent, arranged for the publication by U.K. publishers in the United Kingdom and, in some instances, other commonwealth countries, of books which had been written outside the United Kingdom by non-resident clients. Rowlatt J. affirmed a finding that the appellant was liable for a failure to deduct income tax on royalties which it had collected from the publishers and paid to the clients on the basis that such royalties represented annual receipts from property situate in the United Kingdom, namely, the copyright. He also did not demur from a finding of the Commissioners that the clients did not exercise a trade in the United Kingdom.

Rowlatt J., before going on to find that U.K. income tax should have been deducted from the payment of royalties to non-resident authors on the basis that they represented annual profits from property situated in the United Kingdom, namely, copyright, rejected (at p. 750) a submission "that the element of property only emerges when a transaction takes place to exploit the copyright by giving a licence" and stated that "it seems to me the copyright itself is property".