NATURE AND EXTENT OF COPYRIGHT

The copyright law states that any person entitled thereto, upon complying with the provisions of this Act, shall have the exclusive right:

(a) To print, reprint, publish, copy, and vend the copyrighted work;

(b) To translate the copyrighted work into other languages, or to make any other version thereof;

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

Copyright under this new law protects all the copyrightable component parts of the work copyrighted, and all matter therein in which copyright is already subsisting under the old law, but without extending the duration or scope of such copyright. The copyright upon composite works, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc., or periodicals, gives to the proprietor all the rights thereto which he would have if each part were individually copyrighted.

WHAT MAY BE COPYRIGHTED

The works for which copyright may be secured include all the productions of an author, artist, etc., but the application for registration must specify to which of the following classes the work in which copyright is claimed belongs :

(a) Books,1 including composite and cyclopedic works, dictionaries, gazetteers, and other compilations;

(b) Periodicals, including newspapers; (c) Lectures, sermons, addresses, etc., prepared for oral delivery;

(d) Dramatic and 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)

(j)

Drawings or plastic works of a scientific or technical character;

Photographs.

(k) Prints and pictorial illustrations.

1 A "Book" means a work of literary substance, not simply a list of printed words, phrases or sentences. The mere fact that an article is printed, or that it is made up in the form of a book does not make it a "book" or enable it to secure protection. The work need not, however, be entirely originalvery few technical books are; it may consist either wholly or in part of old material compiled from sources common to all, but the manner of presentation of the material must be new and such that no previously existing copyright has been secured on the same arrangement. A series of mathematical tables may be copyrighted, or a collection of statistics, etc., but not a mere price list of materials, nor a book of forms, blank agreements, etc., nor cards, letterheads or envelopes. A blank account book or other integral part of a bookkeeping system cannot be copyrighted, but a literary work, explaining the system of bookkeeping may be. Further, all copies published or offered for sale must be identical; a work provided with blank spaces so that additions can be made, making one copy different from another, does not meet the legal requirements. Nor does the law protect the individual component parts of a book or periodical; the title alone or the cover design, cannot be copyrighted, but they may, under certain conditions, be protected by the law relating to Trademarks. A copyright on a technical work containing certain mathematical tables, formulas and statistics, does not give the author the exclusive right to such material.

The law provides that there shall be no copyright on Public Documents, either in whole or in part, provided the work is originally published by the Government; but if the Government publication is a reprint of a work already copyrighted, its publication by the Government does not annul or abridge that copyright, or authorize any use or appropriation of the copyrighted material without the consent of the copyright proprietor.

WHO MAY OBTAIN COPYRIGHT

Copyright protection is granted to an author1 or proprietor of any work, or his executors, administrators, or assigns; but when the author or proprietor of the work is not a citizen of the United States copyright is granted only:

(a) When he is a resident of the United States at the time of the first publication of his work;

(b) When he is a citizen of a country grant

1. "Author" includes an employer in the case of works made by a hired writer.

2. An entry may not be made in a fictitious name, or a pseudonym, but an author may preserve his anonymity and avoid putting his name on record, if he so desires, by arranging to have some one else take out the copyright as "Proprietor." Entry may be made in the name of a firm, corporation or trustee, or in two or more names as joint authors or proprietors, and a "Proprietor" may hold the copyright in trust for the author or other legal owner.

ing reciprocal copyright rights to citizens of the United States.1

HOW TO SECURE COPYRIGHT

Publication of Work with Notice and Registration of Copyright Work. Any person entitled thereto may secure copyright protection for his work by its publication with notice of copyright imprinted on every copy published1 and such person may obtain registration of claim by complying with the various conditions of the law, and upon such compliance, the Register of Copyrights will issue to the claimant a certificate of copyright.

Copyright may also be had of the works of an author of which copies are not reproduced for sale, by the deposit, with claim of copyright, of one complete copy of the work if it be a lecture or similar production; of a photographic print, if the work be a photograph; of a photograph or other identifying reproduction if it be a work of art, or a drawing. But the securing of such copyright does not exempt the proprietor from the deposit of two copies,

1. Reciprocal copyright arrangements now prevail for the benefit of authors, in Great Britain and her possessions, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Netherlands, Cuba, and China. An American author may secure copyright in these countries under the conditions there prevailing. This is usually done through an agent or publisher abroad who is familiar with the conditions.

where the work is later reproduced in copies for sale.

2

Deposit of Copies of Copyright Work. After copyright has been secured by publication of the work with the proper notice of copyright, there must be promptly deposited in, or mailed to, the Copyright Office, addressed to the Register of Copyrights, Washington, D. C., two complete copies of the best edition of the work then published,' which work, if it be a book or periodical, must have been produced in accordance with the manufacturing provisions specified below; or if the work be a contribution to a periodical, for which contribution special registration is requested, one copy of the issue or issues containing such contribution; or if the work is not reproduced in copies for sale, there must be deposited the copy, print, photograph, or other identifying reproduction already mentioned, which must be accompanied in each case by a claim of copyright. No action or proceeding for in

1. No manuscript copies of books or articles, and no original drawings or paintings should be sent to the Copyright Office.

2. Applications may be made in advance for the entry of a number of issues of a periodical, by send-. ing the printed title headings with the variations as to volume, number, and date written in each issue requiring a separate fee, and separate complete title.

3. Serial contributions to periodicals, including any series of articles published at intervals and under a general title, can be protected by entering the title of each installment on or before the day of its publication, and by making deposit of copy or copies as specified.