COMMENTS AND VIEWS SUBMITTED TO THE COPYRIGHT OFFICE ON PROTECTION OF UNPUBLISHED WORKS By John Schulman DECEMBER 10, 1957. I have read the study on the "Protection of Unpublished Works." It is my belief that there should be a single copyright system under which both published and unpublished works would be protected. Accordingly, I am in favor of a Federal statute which would embrace that principle. To this extent I subscribe to Alternative C. However, the phrasing of the alternative is much too limited and the subsidiary questions represent only a few of the many factors to be taken into account. My preference for a single statutory system of copyright which would absorb (rather than eliminate) common law doctrine is predicated upon the general pattern which I have indicated in comments upon other studies. Obviously, if our statutory system is to continue being a straitjacket, rather than a law which assured adequate protection for authors and artists, I would prefer to retain the dual systems of statutory and common law protection. The common law doctrines are in my opinion better adapted to present day conditions and practices than is our outmoded statutory system. By Walter J. Derenberg JOHN SCHULMAN. DECEMBER 11, 1957. I have finished reading the very excellent study by William Strauss on "Protection of Unpublished Works," upon which you have invited my opinion. I have always felt quite strongly that common law copyright protection should be abolished in the United States as it was in England and that we should have a much simplified system which would do away with the complications of our present law and, particularly, Section 12 thereof. I would therefore favor Alternative C, under which the federal statute would be applicable to all works from their creation, without regard to publication or public dissemination. Having in mind the ultimate possibility of assimilating the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention and for other reasons well summarized in Mr. Finkelstein's recent article, "The Copyright Law-A Reappraisal" (104 U. of Pa. L. Rev. 1025 (June 1956)). I would also favor the idea that such uniform federal statutory protection should be for the life of the author and 50 years thereafter. I am also of opinion that preexisting unpublished works should be brought under the statute and that perhaps the best way to do this would be to adopt the approach first suggested in one of the Sirovich Bills to which Mr. Strauss's study refers in footnote 243. While I realize that some problems may arise with regard to unpublished letters, photographs and other private material, I have always felt that there is, on the other hand, a real public interest which should permit the use of this type of material after an initial fairly long period of protection, at least in instances in which the use thereof may be of literary or historical interest. As you will recall, this point of view was also suggested in the interesting study published a few years ago by Dr. Ralph Shaw, entitled “Literary Property in the United States." I am a firm advocate of one uniform federal system of copyright law, which, in my opinion, would also further promote better international copyright relations between the United States and other nations, without, at the same time, raising serious constitutional questions. WALTER J. DERENBERG. |