So far as this report is a statement of the present status of the proposed copyright legislation and of the reasons which have been advanced in support of certain of its provisions, I concur in it. I am opposed, however, to the proposed statute, for the reason that it makes very radical changes in the existing law, and in my judgment unnecessarily introduces new language and definitions, which will be fruitful sources of uncertainty and litigation. The discussion of the special questions relating to music rolls and disks has diverted attention from the other numerous changes made by the proposed statute in the language of the existing statute law, and I think the approval of the American Bar Association should not be given to these changes without a more thorough discussion than has been given to them either in committee or in the meetings of the Association. I am also opposed to the general statement in the proposed statute that copyright shall be entitled to all the rights and remedies which would be accorded to all other species of property at common law. The incidents of property in literary productions are so different from those of property in material objects that it is impossible to foretell the effect of such a general statement except that it will probably give rise to much litigation.

I would prefer that any copyright legislation should not be radical or revolutionary in its character, but should be simply amendatory of the language of existing statutes so far as is necessary to correct obvious evils.

FRANK P. PRICHARD.

I agree generally with the conclusions expressed in the above report concerning sections 13, 31, 39, 40, 41 and sub-section (b) of section 28, and regard the recommendations concerning sections 39, 40 and 41 as quite important.

I dissent from so much as relates to section 4, and think the section referred to as 28, while an improvement on some of the prior drafts, requires further qualification to prevent copyright being unfairly used to exclude competition in the manufacture and sale of musical and other sound-producing instruments.

Any extension of the monopoly which makes it unnecessarily vexatious to the public, without advantage to authors, and is principally serviceable in promoting mischievous combinations of publishers, is not, in my opinion, consistent with the lawful purpose of copyright.

Apparently the effect of adding to the monopoly heretofore conferred under copyright

"all the rights and remedies which would be accorded to any other species of property at common law "

is to supersede henceforth the decisions which have held that, after the copyrighted book or other article has been sold under authority of the copyright, and paid the tribute exacted, its further sale and use cannot be interfered with by a suit for infringement under the copyright law. Such decisions have limited the extent to which a combination of publishers can use copyrights to compel independent dealers to maintain dictated prices on uncopyrighted as well as copyrighted books. This clause is unnecessary for any purpose except to confer the power there denied and enable publishers to retain title in copyrighted books after they have been sold at the prescribed price, and pursue as infringers any who shall resell them, except at such prices and to such persons as the publisher may prescribe, thus excluding from reselling copyrighted books (after they have once paid tribute under the copyright) all dealers who refuse to maintain the arbitrarily prescribed prices and all other owners who have occasion to sell their books at second-hand. I should regard such extension of the monopoly as a severe blow at authors and the public, as well as independent book-sellers.

I do not think the meaning of the word "writings" in the Constitution can be amplified by legislative interpretation, as proposed.

There are other provisions of the bill which I think ought to be modified before its passage can be recommended, among them those relating to the term, which is, in most cases, too long and with no means of ascertaining when it has expired; that defining the subject-matter included, which is too comprehensive; and that relating to importation, which is needlessly oppressive.

The present bill is a substantial improvement on some former drafts, but should be further amended before it receives the endorsement of this Association.

ROBT. H. PARKINSON.

60TH CONGRESS, 1ST SESSION. H. R. 21,592.

In the House of Representatives, May 4, (calendar day, May 5), 1908, Mr. Washburn introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Patents and ordered to be printed.

A BILL

TO AMEND AND CONSOLIDATE THE ACTS RESPECTING COPYRIGHT. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the copyright secured by this Act shall include the exclusive right: (a) To print, reprint, publish, copy and vend the copyrighted work;

(b) To translate the copyrighted work into other languages or dialects, to dramatize it if it be a nondramatic work, to convert it into a novel or other nondramatic work if it be a drama, to arrange or adapt it if it be a musical work, to complete, execute and finish it if it be a model or design for a work of art;

(c) To deliver or authorize the delivery of the copyrighted work in public for profit if it be a lecture, sermon, address or similar production;

(d) To perform or represent the copyrighted work publicly if it be a drama;

(e) To perform the copyrighted work publicly for profit if it be a musical composition on which such right of public performance for profit has been reserved, as provided in section twenty of this Act, and for the purpose of public performance for profit, and, for the purposes set forth in subsection (a) hereof, 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 an

author may be recorded and from which it may be read or reproduced: Provided, That the provisions of this Act so far as they secure copyright covering the parts of instruments serving to reproduce mechanically the musical work shall include only compositions published and copyrighted after the passage of this Act: And provided further, That whenever the owner of a musical copyright has used or permitted the use of the copyrighted work upon the parts of instruments serving to reproduce mechanically the musical work, any other person may make similar use of the copyrighted work upon the payment to the copyright proprietor of a royalty equal to the royalty agreed to be paid by the licensee paying the lowest rate of royalty for instruments of the same class, and if no license has been granted then per centum of the gross sum received by such person for the manufacture, use or sale of such parts, and in all cases the highest price in a series of transactions shall be adopted.

SEC. 2. That nothing in this Act shall be construed to annul or limit the right of the author or proprietor of an unpublished work, at common law or in equity, to prevent the copying, publication or use of such unpublished work without his consent and to obtain damages therefor.

SEC. 3. That the copyright provided by this Act shall protect all the copyrightable component parts of the work copyrighted, and all matter therein in which copyright is already subsisting, but without extending the duration or scope of such copyright. The copyright upon composite works or periodicals. shall give to the proprietor thereof all the rights in respect thereto which he would have if each part were individually copyrighted under this Act.

SEC. 4. That the works for which copyright may be secured under this Act shall include all the writings of an author, including in the term "writings" all forms of record in which the thought of an author may be recorded and from which it may be read or reproduced.

That subject to the limitations and conditions of this Act copyright secured hereunder shall be entitled to all the rights and remedies which would be accorded to any other species of property at common law.

SEC. 5. That the application for registration shall specify to which of the following classes the work in which copyright is claimed belongs:

(a) Books, including composite and cyclopædic works, direct ories, gazetteers and other compilations;

(b) Periodicals, including newspapers;

(c) Lectures, sermons, addresses, prepared for oral delivery; (d) Dramatic or dramatico-musical compositions;

(e) Musical compositions;

(f) Maps;

(g) Works of art; models or designs for works of art; (h) Reproductions of a work of art;

(i) Drawings of plastic works of a scientific or technical character;

(j) Photographs.

(k) Prints and pictorial illustrations:

Provided, nevertheless, That the above specifications shall not be held to limit the subject-matter of copyright as defined in section four of this Act, nor shall any error in classification invalidate or impair the copyright protection secured under this Act.

SEC. 6. That compilations or abridgements, adaptations, arrangements, dramatizations, translations or other versions of works in the public domain, or of copyrighted works when produced with the consent of the proprietor of the copyright in such works, or works republished with new matter, shall be regarded as new works subject to copyright under the provisions of this Act; but the publication of any such new works 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. 7. That no copyright shall subsist in the original text of any work which is in the public domain, or in any publication of the United States Government, or any reprint, in whole or in part, thereof Provided, however, That the publication or republication by the Government, either separately or in a public