GENERAL REVISION OF THE COPYRIGHT LAW THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 1930 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Albert H. Vestal The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. The com- The bill under consideration is as follows: [H. R. 6990, Seventy-first Congress, second session] A BILL To amend and consolidate the acts respecting copyright and to permit the Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United To copy, print, reprint, publish, produce, reproduce, perform, render, exhibit, (a) To translate said work into other languages or dialects, or to make (b) To make, copy, and vend any phonographic record or any perforated (c) To dramatize or make a motion picture of said work if it be a non- (d) To arrange or adapt said work if it be a musical work; (e) To complete, execute, and finish said work; (f) To deliver or authorize the delivery of said work in public if it be a (g) To communicate said work to the public by radio broadcasting, tele- (h) To perform, represent, or exhibit said work publicly in whole or in any method whatsoever, and if such work is unpublished, to vend any manuscript or record thereof or otherwise dispose of the same; to make or to procure the making of any transcription, roll, or record thereof, in whole or in part, or any other contrivance by or from which it may in any manner or by any method or means be communicated, exhibited, performed, represented, produced, or reproduced; and to communicate, exhibit, perform, represent, produce, or reproduce it in any manner or by any means or method whatsoever; (i) To perform said work publicly, if it be a musical composition; and to make any arrangement or setting of it or of the melody of it in any system of notation or any form of record in which the thought of any author may be recorded and from which it may be read or reproduced. SEC. 2. Such copyright shall extend to all published and unpublished work of citizens of the United States, and shall also extend to the work of alien authors in the event that (a) Such work is first, or simultaneously, published in the United States and/or a foreign country adhering to the International Copyright Union; or (b) Such work, if unpublished, is created by a citizen or subject of a foreign country adhering to the International Copyright Union; (c) Such author is a citizen or subject of a foreign country not adhering to the International Copyright Union, which country by treaty or international agreement, grants to citizens of the United States, copyright on the same basis as to its own citizens. The existence or cessation of the reciprocal conditions aforesaid shall be determined by the President of the United States by proclamation made from time to time, as the purposes of this act may require. For the purposes of this act a work shall be deemed to be published simultaneously in two countries if the time between the publication in good faith in one such country and the publication in good faith in the other country does not exceed fourteen days. SEC. 3. Where any work, except a dramatico-musical or musical work, is created by an employee within the scope of his employment, his employer shall, as author, be the owner of the copyright in such work, in the absence of agreement to the contrary; but this provision shall not apply to works created on special commission where there is no relation of employer and employee. Where any dramatico-musical or musical work is created by an employee within the scope of his employment under general employment upon regular salary, his employer shall be the first owner of the copyright in such work, in the absence of agreement to the contrary; but this provision shall not apply to works created on special commission where there is no such relation of employer and employee. SEC. 4. Copyright secured by this act shall extend to any work subject thereto to the extent to which it is original, notwithstanding it is based in part upon, or incorporates in whole or in part some previously existing work: Provided, however, That the enjoyment and exercise of such copyright shall be subject and without prejudice to the rights of the owner of the copyright, if any, in the previously existing work, and/or of anyone deriving or who has derived any right or rights from said owner. This section shall not apply to works referred to in section 5 of this act. SEC. 5. Any compilation, abridgment, adaptation, arrangement, or dramatization of a dramatico-musical or musical work, if the same be a work in the public domain, or of a copyright dramatico-musical or musical work when produced with the consent of the proprietor of the copyright in such work, shall be regarded as a new work subject to copyright under the provisions of this act; but the publication of any such new work shall not affect the force or validity of any subsisting copyright upon the matter employed or any part thereof, or be construed to imply an exclusive right to such use of the original works, or to secure or extend copyright in such original works. SEC. 6. The copyright is distinct from the property in any material reproduction of the work, and the sale or conveyance, by gift or otherwise, of the material reproduction shall not of itself constitute a transfer of the copyright, nor shall the assignment or license of the copyright constitute a transfer of the title to the material reproduction unless expressly stipulated; except in the case of photographic portraits made for hire or on commission, in which case, in the absence of written agreement to the contrary, the copyright shall vest in the person whose portrait is reproduced or his legal representatives. Noth ing in this act shall be deemed to forbid, prevent, or restrict the transfer of any copy of a copyright work the possession of which has been lawfully obtained. SEC. 7. If the United States Government reprints and distributes any copyright work or part thereof with the consent of the owner, such use shall not in any way authorize the use elsewhere of such copyright material or prejudice or limit the rights of the copyright owner. Subject always to the foregoing, no copyright shall subsist in any report or other publication of the United States Government. SEC. 8. The copyright of a work of architecture shall cover only its artistic character and its design and shall not extend to processes or methods of construction, nor shall it prevent the making, exhibiting, or publishing of photographs, motion pictures, paintings, or other illustrations thereof, which are not in the nature of architectural drawings or plans, and the owner of the copyright shall not be entitled to obtain an injunction restraining the construction, substantially begun, or use, of an infringing building, or an order for its demolition or seizure. ASSIGNMENT OF COPYRIGHT SEC. 9. The author or other owner of any copyright under this act or of any copyright heretofore secured under any previous act of the United States may, by written instrument signed by him or his duly authorized agent, executed after this act goes into effect, assign, mortgage, license, or otherwise dispose of, the entire copyright or any right or rights comprised therein, either wholly or separately, either generally or subject to limitations, for the entire term of such copyright or for a limited time, or for a specified territory or territories, and may bequeath the same by will. Any person or persons deriving any right, title, or interest from any author or other owner as aforesaid, may each, separately, for himself, in his own name as party to a suit, action, or proceeding, protect and enforce such rights as he may hold, and to the extent of his right, title, and interest is entitled to the remedies provided by this act. All rights comprised in a copyright are several, distinct, and severable. Where, under any assignment of less than the entire copyright or under an exclusive license, the assignee or licensee becomes entitled to any right comprised in copyright or to the exercise thereof, the assignee or licensee to the extent of the rights so assigned or conferred shall be treated for all purposes, including the right to sue, as the owner of the several and distinct rights and parts of the copyright so assigned or conferred; and the assignor or licensor to the extent of his rights not so assigned or conferred shall be treated for all purposes as the owner of the several and distinct rights and parts of the copyright not so assigned or conferred. SEC. 10. In case of any copyright secured before this act goes into effect by a person other than the author of the work, under a written contract executed before this act goes into effect, by which some of the rights embraced in the copyright were reserved to the author of such work, such author or his assignee, or licensee, or the holder of such reserved rights (if not theretofore disposed of by the copyright proprietor of record before this act takes effect), shall have the right (to the extent of his right, title, or interest) in his own name to protect and enforce such rights, or license therein, and shall be entitled to the remedies provided by this act. In case one or more of the several rights under a copyright secured before this act goes into effect shall have been assigned, granted, or otherwise disposed of by the author or other owner of such copyright, before this act goes into effect, under a written agreement executed before this act goes into effect, then the assignee or licensee mentioned in such agreement shall have the right (to the extent of his right, title, or interest) in his own name to protect and enforce such right or license, and shall be entitled to the remedies, provided by this act. This section shall apply only in cases where any such written instrument shall have been recorded in the office of the register of copyrights before the expiration of six months after this act goes into effect. This section shall not, however, affect the rights and liabilities of any of the parties to any such instrument as between themselves. SEC. 11. Assignments, grants, licenses, and mortgages of copyright or of any separate right therein, or any other instrument relating to or affecting a copyright or right therein, may be recorded in the Copyright Office at any t me after execution. A failure so to record shall not affect the validity of any such instrument: Provided, That no unrecorded assignment, grant, license, mortgage, |