Text: United States Treaty Series, No. 593. All of the parties to the 1902 convention (Text: United States Treaty Series No. 491), except El Salvador, became parties to the 1910 convention. On February 20, 1928, at the Sixth International Conference of American States, Habana, a convention was signed revising the convention of Buenos Aires. It adds, among other things, specific provisions for the protection of motion pictures and of works reproduced by means of cinematography or mechanical music instruments. Article 3, quoted above, is replaced by the following: "The acknowledgment of a copyright obtained in one State, in conformity with its laws, shall produce its effects of full right in all the other States, without the necessity of complying with any other formality, provided always there shall appear in the work a statement that indicates the reservation of the property right, and the name of the person in whose favor the reservation is registered. Likewise the country of origin, the country in which the first publication was made, or those in which simultaneous publications were made, as well as the year of the first publication, must be indicated." The United States has not ratified this convention. It supersedes the earlier convention, which, however, remains in effect as to the relations of the States that do not ratify the later. The parties to the Habana revision are Panama and Guatemala. Text: Report of the delegates of the United States of America to the Sixth International Conference of American States, page 190. At present the chief instrument of protection for American copyright in other countries is a group of executive agreements entered into with other countries individually under the provisions of the copyright law of March 4, 1909. These agreements, which are revocable at will, provide for reciprocal national treatment, that is, a citizen of one country may obtain copyright in the other in the same manner as a native. The latest of these agreements, that with Greece, went into force on March 1, 1932, and is evidenced by presidential proclamation, as follows: Whereas it is provided by the act of Congress approved March 4, 1909 (35 Stat. 1075-1088), entitled "An act to amend and consolidate the acts respecting copyright," that the copyright secured by the act, except the benefits under section 1 (e) thereof as to which special conditions are imposed, shall extend to the work of an author or proprietor who is a citizen or subject of a foreign state or nation, only upon certain conditions set forth in section 8 of the said act, to wit: (a) When an alien author or proprietor shall be domiciled within the United States at the time of the first publication of his work; or (b) When the foreign state or nation of which such author or proprietor is a citizen or subject grants, either by treaty, convention, agreement, or law, to citizens of the United States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to its own citizens, or copyright protection substantially equal to the protection secured to such foreign author under this act or by treaty; or when such foreign state or nation is a party to an international agreement which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States may, at its pleasure, become a party thereto; and 44 Whereas it is provided by section 1 (e) of the said act of Congress, approved March 4, 1909, that the provisions of the act so far as they secure copyright controlling the parts of instruments serving to reproduce mechanically the musical work, shall include only compositions published and copyrighted after this act goes into effect, and shall not include the works of a foreign author or composer unless the foreign state or nation of which such author or composer is a citizen or subject grants, either by treaty, convention, agreement, or law, to citizens of the United States similar rights"; and Whereas the President is authorized by the said section 8 to determine by proclamation made from time to time the existence of the reciprocal conditions aforesaid, as the purposes of the act may require; and Whereas satisfactory official assurances have been received that on and after March 1, 1932, citizens of the United States will be entitled to obtain copyright for their works in Greece which is substantially equal to the protection afforded by the copyright laws of the United States, including rights similar to those provided by section 1 (e) of the copyright act of the United States, approved March 4, 1909; Now, therefore, I, Herbert Hoover, President of the United States of America, do declare and proclaim That on and after March 1, 1932, the conditions specified in sections 8 (b) and 1(e) of the act of March 4, 1909, will exist and be fulfilled in respect of the nationals of Greece and that on and after March 1, 1932, nationals of Greece shall be entitled to all the benefits of the act of March 4, 1909, including section 1 (e) thereof and the acts amendatory of the said act: Provided, That the enjoyment by any work of the rights and benefits conferred by the act of March 4, 1909, and the acts amendatory thereof, shall be conditional upon compliance with the requirements and formalities prescribed with respect to such works by the copyright laws of the United States: And provided further, That the provisions of section 1 (e) of the act of March 4, 1909, in so far as they secure copyright controlling parts of instruments serving to reproduce mechanically musical works shall apply only to compositions published after July 1, 1909, and registered for copyright in the United States which have not been reproduced within the United States prior to March 1, 1932, on any contrivance by means of which the work may be mechanically performed. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington this 23d day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and fifty-sixth. [SEAL] By the President: HERBERT HOOVER. HENRY L. STIMSON, Secretary of State. Agreements under the act of 1909 are in force with the following countries, those marked with an asterisk including the provision based on section 1 (e) as well as that on section 8: Finally, the United States is a party to a number of bipartite treaties and agreements with other countries for the reciprocal protection, in varying degree, of copyright; and some provisions on the subject are found in treaties dealing primarily with other subjects. Protection is thus obtained in the following countries: China-Text: Treaty Series No. 430; treaty with France, Senate Document No. 348, Sixty-seventh Congress, fourth session, page 2585; treaty with Japan, Treaty Series No. 507. Hungary-Text: Treaty Series No. 571. Japan-Text: Treat Series No. 450. Korea-Text: Treaty Series No. 506. Siam-Text: Treaty Series No. 655. Spain-Text: Treaty Series No. 474 and No. 343 (art. 13). The treaty of 1916, with Denmark, for the cession of the Danish West Indies provides (art. 9) that the copyright acquired by Danish subjects in the islands shall continue to be respected. Text: Treaty Series No. 629. The CHAIRMAN. I am going to ask you to do one thing, Mr. McClure. In the first place I want to thank you for the magnificent way in which you have cooperated with me, as chairman of this committee, for the excellent suggestions you have given and for your desire to be of assistance to this committee. I do not know of anybody I would rather have the Secretary of State send to assist me than you, sir. I am going to ask the Secretary of State to have you further cooperate with me to see in what way we can bring out a law or a bill that will meet the situation and that will be satisfactory to all concerned. Mr. MCCLURE. On behalf of the Secretary of State, I thank you very much for the sentiments you have expressed, and I shall indeed enjoy cooperating with you in any way possible. MEMORANDUM ON GENERAL REVISION OF THE COPYRIGHT LAW SUBMITTED BY THE COMMITTEE ON COPYRIGHTS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THE BAR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK Hon. WILLIAM I. SIROVICH, Chairman Committee on Patents, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: The committee on copyrights of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York respectfully submits to your honorable body, the following statement of the views of the association with reference to the subject of a general revision of the copyright law of the United States: First. The association believes that such a general revision is necessary at this time in order to adapt the copyright law to the many changes which have taken place in modes of communication of intellectual and artistic creations, since the act of 1909. Second. The association favors the adherence of the United States to the convention creating an international union for the protection of literary and artistic works. There is a great and growing demand all over the world for American literary and artistic creations and the need for international copyright protection is pressing. The present subterfuges by which American authors obtain foreign protection are, to say the least, incompatible with the dignity of the United States, and, moreover, unmistakable indications exist that such methods will not much longer be permitted by the nations which in the past have connived at them. Third. As a necessary corollary to the foregoing, the association favors the principle of so-called automatic copyright, that is to say of securing to authors from the creation of their works, full statutory copyright protection without compliance with any formalities or conditions. This, we say, is a necessary corollary to adherence to the international union, because since 1908 it has been an essential provision of the international copyright conventions that the enjoyment and the exercise of the rights secured are not subject to any formality. We are aware of the arguments which have been made against the principle of automatic copyright. Those arguments have been seriously debated and carefully weighed by the association through its committee, and its conclusions were (a) That the experience of other nations has proved that the difficulties and dangers apprehended by the opponents of automatic copyright are not serious if, indeed, they may not be said to be nonexistent; and (b) That even though such difficulties and dangers were far more serious than experience has proved, they are outweighed by the advantages to be secured to our authors from international copyright. Fourth. The association favors a change in the copyright term for the present 28 years with a renewal for a like period, and it believes that the provision for a term measured by the life of the author plus a fixed number of years after his death is the most workable. We are not wedded to any particular number of years and there is ground for reasonable objection to so long a period as 50 years. That number seems to have been proposed in previous bills, chiefly for the sake of uniformity with the laws of other nations. This committee is strongly of the opinion that it would be a serious mistake to date the fixed period-whatever it be from the "date of copyright," as was provided by a Senate amendment to the Vestal bill of the Seventy-first Congress. The "date of copyright" is the date of creatiton of the work. Such a date would be almost impossible of ascertainment-especially after the lapse of a long term of years, when alone it would become a matter of inquiry. No public record of the date of creation is required; none could be required if international protection is to be secured, because such a requirement would be inconsistent with the unconditional provision of the international conventions. The same would be true of a provision dating the fixed period from the first publication. This committee is of the opinion that the only workable plan, consistent with the international conventions, is to date the fixed period from the author's death, which is always a matter of public record. Such, in effect, would be the provision which we favor, of a term measured by the life of the author with any proper number of years thereafter. Fifth. The association of the bar and this committee favor the principle of the divisible copyright. The reasons in support of that principle have been so often and so well stated and are so familiar that they need no restatement at this time. In the opinion of this committee, only so can authors secure the full measure of the rights which the Constitution intended to grant, without confusion and injustice to others dealing with them in respect to such rights. This committee believes that the foregoing are the fundamental general principles which any measure of copyright revision ought to provide for. On matters of practice and remedy the committee feels that it would be superfluous and premature to offer suggestions in advance of particular proposals. It assumes that when a bill is drawn and introduced with the approval of your honorable body, there will be an opportunity for this committee to make such suggestions as seem to it appropriate. We beg to assure your honorable body of our earnest desire to be of assistance in shaping legislation on this important subject-not in the interest of any particular industry, calling, section, or faction but solely with a view to the public and general interest in a matter of constitutional right. Dated, New York, February 2, 1932. OTTO G. WIERNIER, Chairman. MEMORANDUM I have signed the foregoing report because it well expresses the views of the majority of our committee, and notwithstanding my objections which I have heretofore urged to two features of the general copyright bill which was before the last Congress, namely: (1) That to extend the existing period of protection to authors for 50 years after the death of the author creates too great a disparity with the period of protection granted to inventors, which is limited to 17 years, I would favor a term not exceeding 40 or 50 years from the date of publication, which is usually an easily ascertainable date. (2) I deem it desirable that one seeking copyright protection, when he loses his common-law protection by publication, should give the public notice by printing with the work the word "copyright" and the year of publication. I think this slight inconvenience to the author or publisher is outweighed by the greater inconvenience of the public in the absence of any such notice. Nevertheless, I appreciate the full advantage to our country of international copyright, and to obtain this it may be desirable to depart from our traditional policy in deference to the views of the numerous nations which have adhered to the International Copyright Union. ARTHUR O. PRESLY. The CHAIRMAN. The meeting stands adjourned until Monday of next week. (Whereupon, at 12 o'clock noon, the committee adjourned to meet Monday, February 8, 1932.) |