COPYRIGHT BILL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON RULES, The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Bertrand H. Snell The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. There are [H. R. 13452, Seventieth Congress, first session] A BILL To amend the act entitled "An act to amend and consolidate the acts respecting Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United "(e) (1) to perform the copyrighted work publicly for profit if it be a musical "(2) If the proprietor of the copyright of a musical composition grants to "(3) Any such grant may be altered, modified, extended, or canceled by "(4) After any such grant or subsequent agreement has become effective, 1 at the time he makes such use of such copyrighted musical composition, if he first serves notice upon the copyright proprietor at his last address, as disclosed by the records of the Copyright Office, of his intention to make such like use of such copyrighted musical composition. Such notice of intention shall be subscribed by the intending user under his hand and seal, and duly acknowledged, agreeing that his use of such copyrighted musical composition shall be upon the same terms and conditions in respect of the royalty payable, the time, mode, and manner of such payment, and the security for the payment thereof, as are prescribed by such grant or subsequent agreement in effect at the time of his use of the copyrighted musical composition. "(5) The payment of royalty by any grantee, or any person making like use of the copyrighted musical composition under the provisions of paragraph (4), shall free the articles or devices for which such royalty has been paid from further contribution to the copyright except in the case of public per formance for profit. "(6) Any manufacture and sale of such parts of instruments serving to reproduce mechanically such copyrighted musical work, in violation of the provisions of this Act, as amended, shall be deemed to be an infringement of the copyright of such musical work. "(7) It shall be unlawful for any person (A) to change, alter, or deviate from the terms of a grant or subsequent agreement made under this subsection, with respect to the royalty payable for such use of the copyrighted musical composition, or with respect to the time, mode, and manner of payment and security for the payment thereof, except in the manner provided in paragraph (3); (B) to give, grant, or concede to any person any refund, rebate, discount, preference, benefit, or advantage whatever from the royalty fixed in such grant or subsequent agreement; or (C) to accept or receive any such refund, rebate, discount, preference, benefit, or advantage. Any person violating any provision of this paragraph shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000.” SEC. 2. The first paragraph of subsection (e) of section 25 of such act of March 4, 1909, as amended (United States Code, title 17, section 25 (e)), and any other provision of such act of March 4, 1909, as amended, in respect of the royalty of 2 cents on each part manufactured of instruments serving to reproduce mechanically a copyrighted musical composition are hereby repealed. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect on July 1, 1928. [House Report No. 1520, Seventieth Congress, first session] The Committee on Patents, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 13452) to amend sections 1 (e) and 25 (e) of the act entitled "An act to amend and consolidate the acts respecting copyright," approved March 4, 1909, in respect of mechanical reproduction of musical compositions, and for other purposes, having had the subject matter of this bill under consideration, reports the same to the House without amendment and with the recommendation that the same do pass. The purpose of this amendment is to modify the so-called compulsory license provisions of the copyright act of 1909 (sec. 1, subsec. (e), and sec. 25, subsec. (e), 35 Stat. L., pt. 1, pp. 1075-1088), by securing to the proprietor of a musical copyright an opportunity of freedom of bargaining with respect to the use of his musical composition on the parts of instruments serving to reproduce it mechanically, such as ordinary commercial phonograph records and preforated paper music rolls; and to extend the remedies of the act for the prevention of and prosecution for infringements to infringements by means of such mechanical devices. The act of 1909 fixed the maximum royalty which might be charged by a copyright owner in respect of such devices at 2 cents per part manufactured, and provided that the copyright owner, if he himself manufactured such devices or permitted or licensed another so to do, then any person might make similar use of the copyrighted work upon notice to the copyright owner of an intention so to do, regardless of the financial responsibility or integrity of such intending user. Under the amendment the copyright owner is permitted to bargain for the rate of royalty to be paid by others in respect of devices serving to mechanically |