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U.S. Congress House

THE COMMITTEE ON PATENTS.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SIXTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

ON

H. R. 11258

A BILL TO AMEND AND CONSOLIDATE THE ACTS RESPECTING
COPYRIGHT AND TO PERMIT THE UNITED STATES TO
ENTER THE INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT UNION

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M. EA.

3/17/25.

COPYRIGHTS

COMMITTEE ON PATENTS,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Tuesday, February 3, 1925.

The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., in the caucus room, House Office Building, Hon. Florian Lampert (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. The first witness to be heard is Mr. Burkan.

STATEMENT OF MR. NATHAN BURKAN, REPRESENTING
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS, AUTHORS, AND PUB-
LISHERS, THE AUTHORS' LEAGUE OF AMERICA, AND THE
AMERICAN DRAMATIST, NEW YORK CITY

Mr. BURKAN. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, there are now pending before you some 14 bills, drawn by various interests affected by copyright. An investigation of the arts, sciences, and industries discloses the groups affected by copyright to be substantially as follows: Authors, dramatists, playwrights, scenario writers, artists, painters, sculptors, architects, illustrators, cartoonists, composers, book publishers, publishers of newspapers, directories, and magazines; publishers of artistic reproductions, lithographers, photographers, publishers of music, associated employers of printers and lithographers, educational institutions, public libraries, motionpicture manufacturers, theater managers, motion-picture exhibitors, mechanical instrument manufacturers, radio manufacturers, printers, lithographers, and bookbinders' unions.

Mr. REID of Illinois. And don't forget the cross-word puzzle producers.

Mr. BURKAN. Cross-word puzzle producers, I think, would come in along the line of authorship.....

Mr. REID of Illinois. And do you represent them?

Mr. BURKAN. I do not-and hotel, cabaret, and dance hall proprietors.

It is quite evident, therefore, that a bill prepared by any one interest would not satisfy the wants, desires, or the demands of the other thirty-four-odd interests. The only place for a proper copyright bill to come from is the copyright office. The act of 1909 originated in the copyright office.

The reason that we support the Perkins bill is because it has not been drawn in the interest of any one particular art, science, or industry; it comes from the copyright office; it came without any conferences, without the aid or assistance of any one affected by copyright. It possesses a degree of neutrality, impartiality, and equality that ought to appeal to any fair-minded person who is affected by copyright. There are things in it that we should like

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to change; it does not meet all our requirements, and I can safely state that it does not satisfy or meet the requirements of every one of the other 34 interests affected by it. But we all know that legislation is a matter of compromise; this bill furnishes an excellent basis for discussion, and I am willing on behalf of those whom I represent to accept it in toto.

Mr. Woll, representing the American Federation of Labor, attacked the bill upon the ground that it deprives labor-that is, the printing trades of the so-called manufacturing clause, which was designed to protect American printers and bookbinders against the dumping into the American market of foreign, cheaply made editions of copyrighted books in the English language. We work in the same vineyard with labor. We also are laborers, and therefore I have drafted an amendment, consistent with the laborers' requirements in this regard, which I think will cover the reasonable demands of Mr. Woll. I submit to the committee's consideration an amendment to Mr. Perkins's bill in the form of sections 49, 49(a), 49(b), and 49(c).

(The amendments submitted by Mr. Burkan are as follows:)

SEC. 49. Whenever any literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work has been published it shall be obligatory, except as below provided, to make a deposit in the copyright office promptly after the date of publication of two complete copies of the best edition thereof then published, not as a condition for securing copyright but for the use of the Library of Congress. Registration for such work may be secured if such copies are accompanied by a suitable application: Provided, however, That no copies of a complete motion-picture film shall be required to be deposited: And provided further, That neither the deposit of copies required by this act, nor the production of copies, if the work be a book or periodical, in accordance with the manufacturing provisions specified in subsections (a) and (b) hereof, shall be obligatory in case of any work whose author is a citizen or subject of a foreign country which is a member of the International Copyright Union or any work which is protected by copyright in the United States under this act by reason of first publication in any country which is a member of the said union, unless and until such work, if it be a book, or periodical shall have been republished in the United States under an assignment of the copyright for the United States or under a license to print and sell such book in the United States.

SEC. 49(a). As a condition for securing copyright in a work specified in subsections (a) and (b) of section 9 hereof, the text of all copies thereof, except as in this or in the preceding section otherwise provided, shall be printed from type set within the limits of the United States, either by hand or by the aid of any kind of typesetting machine, or from plates made within the limits of the United States from type set therein, or, if the text be produced by lithographic process, or photo-engraving process, then by a process wholly performed within the limits of the United States, and the printing of the text and binding of the said book shall be performed within the limits of the United States, which requirements shall extend also to the illustrations within a book consisting of printed text and illustrations produced by lithographic process, or photo-engraving process, and also to separate lighographs and photo-engravings, except where the subjects represented are located in a foreign country and illustrate a scientific work or reproduce a work of art; but they shall not apply to works in raised character for the use of the blind, or to books of foreign origin in a language or languages other than English, or to books published abroad in the English language seeking ad interim protection under this act.

SEC. 49(b). That in the case of the book, the deposit of the copies thereof as provided in section 49 of this act shall be accompanied by an affidavit, under the official seal of any officer authorized to administer oaths within the United States, duly made by the person claiming copyright or by his duly authorized agent or representative residing in the United States, or by the printer who has printed the book, setting forth that the copies deposited have been printed from type set within the limits of the United States or from plates made within the limits of the United States from type set therein; or, if the text be produced by lithographic process, or photo-engraving process, that such process was wholly performed within the limits of the United States, and that the printing of the

text and binding of the said book have also been performed within the limits of the United States. Such affidavit shall state also the place where and the establishment or establishments in which such type was set or plates were made or lithographic process or photo-engraving process or printing and binding were performed and the date of the completion of the printing of the book or the date of publication.

SEC. 49(c). That any person who, for the purpose of securing copyright in a work specified in subsections (a) and (b) of section 9, shall knowingly make a false affidavit as to his having complied with the above conditions shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000, and all of his rights and privileges under said copyright shall thereafter be forfeited.

Mr. BLOOM. Will you state to the committee the purposes of the amendments?

Mr. BURKAN. The amendments provide that all works of American origin must be printed in accordance with the manufacturing provisions of the present act; and also provide that in the case of a work of foreign origin if the book is republished in the United States under an assignment of the copyright, or if the book is printed and sold in the United States under a license from the foreign author, then that work must be printed and bound in accordance with the manufacturing provisions of existing law. That, to my mind, meets all the objections that have been raised to this bill by Mr. Woll. I should like

to submit that to him for his careful consideration.

Mr. REID of Illinois. Is that the same as the Dallinger bill?
Mr. BURKAN. I think substantially it is.

A VOICE. What is the penalty?

Mr. BURKAN. The penalty is a misdemeanor and loss of copyright protection. I have provided that anyone failing to comply with the provisions "shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000, and all of his rights and privileges under said copyright shall thereafter be forfeited."

Mr. Reid has made objection to that portion of the bill which you will find on page 10, section 12, subdivision L, lines 21 and 22, providing that performances given for religious, charitable, or educational purposes shall be exempt from copyright control, unless a fee is charged for admission to the place where the music is so used. On behalf of my people I am perfectly willing that that provision should be eliminated. We are not interested in whether or not a fee is charged at the door so long as the performance is given for a religious, educational, or charitable purpose.

Mr. REID of Illinois. Are you willing to put back in there "public performance for profit"?

Mr. BURKAN. As to that, I should like to argue that out in detail. Mr. REID of Illinois. You are not going that far now?

Mr. BURKAN. I am perfectly willing, as to that proposition, to consent to the elimination of that portion of line 21, on page 10, commencing with the word "unless," and line 22.

Mr. BLOOM. You said "the people you represented," but I do not believe you have yet stated just whom you do represent.

Mr. BURKAN. I have stated that I represent the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the Authors' League of America, and the American Dramatists. That organization is made up practically of the entire music-writing fraternity of America. The society has reciprocal agreements with similar foreign societies, viz,

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