House bill, no. 6487 [H. R. 6487. Report no. 1287. Fifty-eighth Congress, second session. In the House of Representatives, December 9, 1903.] Mr. Currier introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Patents and ordered to be printed. [March 1, 1904. Reported with amendments, referred to the House Calendar, and A BILL to amend chapter forty-nine hundred and fifty-two of the Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section forty-nine hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: "SEC. 4952. The author, inventor, designer, or proprietor of any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print, or photograph, or negative thereof, or of a painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, and of models or designs intended to be perfected as works of the fine arts, and the executors, administrators, or assigns of any such person shall, upon complying with the provisions of this chapter, have the sole liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, completing, copying, executing, finishing, and vending the same; and, in the case of a dramatic composition, of publicly performing or representing it, or causing it to be performed or represented by others. And authors or their assigns shall have exclusive right to dramatize or translate any of their works for which copyright shall have been obtained under the laws of the United States. "Whenever the author or proprietor of a book in a foreign language, which shall be published in a foreign country before the day of publication in this country, or his executors, administrators, or assigns, shall, within twelve months after the first publication of such book in a foreign country, obtain a copyright for a translation of such book in the English language, which shall be the first copyright in this country for a translation of such book, he and they shall have, during the term of such copyright, the sole liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, vending, translating, and dramatizing the said book, and, in the case of a dramatic composition, of publicly performing the same, or of causing it to be performed or represented by others. Provided, That this act shall only apply to a citizen or subject of a foreign state or nation when such foreign state or nation permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright on the same basis as is given to its citizens by this act." Amend the title so as to read: "A bill to amend section forty-nine hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes." [House Report no. 1287, Fifty-eighth Congress, second session.] Mr. Currier, from the Committee on Patents, submitted House report, the following report [to accompany H. R. 6487]: The Committee on Patents, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 6487) for the amendment of section 4952 of the Revised Statutes, submit the following report: This bill deals solely with books, and the purpose of the measure is to secure for the authors or owners of the copyrights of books in languages other than English the same measure of protection as is at present accorded to works by American authors or to works by British authors which have been entered for copyright under the American law. Some legislation of this kind is not only required to make good the intention of the act of March 3, 1891, to secure copyright protection in the United States to foreign authors, but also to insure that international reciprocity in relation to copyright which the enactment of the international copyright law was expected to bring about. The act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. L., 1106), provides that the citizens of any foreign country in whose favor a copyright proclamation has been made can obtain copyright in the United States. Such proclamations have been issued in favor of the citizens of fourteen foreign countries." The @ Proclamations have been issued by the President of the United States, by which copyright protection is granted in the United States to works of authors who are citizens or subjects of the following countries: Belgium, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain and her possessions, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands and her possessions, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland. no. 1287 authors of those countries, therefore, may secure the privileges conferred by the copyright laws of the United States upon complying with the following statutory formalities: 1. File for record in the Copyright Office the titles of their books on or before the day of first publication. 2. Deposit in the Library of Congress two copies of such books not later than the day of first publication, printed from type set within the limits of the United States, or from plates made therefrom. 3. Print in "the several copies of every edition published" the statutory notice of copyright. This statute had for its avowed purpose the concession of the copyright protection of the American law to authors who were not citizens or not residents of the United States, in so far as such authors were citizens of States the laws of which granted a reciprocal protection in their own territories to American authors. While copyright entries have been made under the proclamations referred to above to secure protection upon foreign works of art, music, dramas, engravings, etc., there have been scarcely any entries for books by the living authors of continental Europe. The reason for this is that foreign authors of books in other languages than English have found it practically impossible to comply with the statutory provisions set out above. Under the conditions provided for in the law a work to secure copyrights must be printed and published in this country not later than the date of its publication in any other country. The editions published in this country must be manufactured from type set within the limits of the United States. It is obviously difficult for a foreign author to decide in advance whether his book may count upon such a sale in the United States as to warrant the printing of a separate edition here, and the almost complete failure of authors of books in other languages than English to take advantage of the copyright laws is due to this difficulty of arranging to make the deposit of American type-set copies before the publication of the original editions of their books. On account of this difficulty foreign authors, except Eng lish authors, have secured practically no advantage from the international provisions in the present copyright statute. The obvious remedy would be to allow a reasonable period of time during which the foreign author might arrange to comply with the requirements of American manufacture. H. R. 6487 proposes in this direction to provide that in the case of the author of a book in some language other than English who has not been able to comply with the present statutory formalities before the publication of his work abroad, and has thus failed to secure a United States copyright for his original work, he may still obtain that right if within twelve months after the first publication of his work abroad he is able to produce an authorized translation of his book into English, printed from type set in the United States or from plates made therefrom; provided, however, that his translation is the first translation registered for copyright since the publication of his original book. The increasing dissatisfaction on the part of the authors of the continent has caused several attempts to be made, particularly in Germany and in France, for the repeal of the copyright conventions now in force between the United States and the states of Europe. Unless this well-founded grievance on the part of the continental authors can be remedied, or can at least be lessened, these international copyright arrangements, which it has taken the labor of half a century or more to bring about, will be repealed on the ground that they are not giving to the authors of the continent the protection that was promised or that is the offset of the protection accorded to American authors in the continental countries. The change proposed in the present bill provides simply that, when a translation has once secured the protection of the law, the production of any unauthorized translations of the same work shall be prohibited. Under the provisions of this bill the author, in order to secure the benefit of copyright, must be the first to file a translation, even during the twelve months' term provided by the bill. The third amendment proposed by the committee to the bill provides that the rights and privileges granted to for10469-No. 8-05-2 House bill, no. 9297 eign authors shall be applicable only to citizens of countries which give our citizens a similar privilege. Accordingly, your committee recommend that the bill do pass with the following amendments: On page 1, in line 7, after the word "composition,” in sert a comma. On page 1, in line 10, strike out the comma after the word fine." Add at the end of the bill the following: "Provided, That this act shall only apply to a citizen or subject of a foreign state or nation when such foreign state or nation permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright on the same basis as is given to its citizens by this act." Amend the title by striking out the word "chapter" and inserting the word "section" in place thereof. [H. R. 9297.-Fifty-eighth Congress, second session. In the House of Representatives. January 8, 1904.] Mr. Knapp introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and ordered to be printed. A BILL to establish a series of free text-books. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the United States Commissioner of Education shall forthwith obtain as nearly as he can a full list of the latest and best editions of text-books used in the public schools of the United States, with the name and address of the owner of the copyright of each of said books, and shall then request of said owner a sealed bid stating the price at which he will sell said copyright to the United States, said bid to stand until the action and decisions of the school text-book commission described in this act have been considered and passed upon by the Congress of the United States. He shall also advertise at an expense of not more than five hundred dollars for sealed bids on the same conditions for furnishing compilations of school text-books equal or superior to those now used in the schools of the country. |