machine to be protected by patent, or (b) before any copyright shall be issued by the United States on any article, musical composition, musical instrument, or device for reproducing music or musical compositions, or any picture, book, pamphlet, or any other work of literature or art to be protected by copyright, to any citizen of any foreign country, the applicant for such copyright registration or patent shall pay to the United States the same amount of copyright or patent fees, and subject himself to all the laws, conditions, restrictions, rules, limitations, and regulations that are imposed by the country of said citizen or subject upon a citizen of the United States for securing copyrights or obtaining and maintaining patents or for manufacturing and selling the patented article or article copyrighted in such foreign country, and the failure on the part of the following patentee to comply with this law shall operate as a forfeiture and cancellation of such copyright or letters patent: Provided, That citizens of any foreign country having no copyright or patent laws, or having such laws do not permit copyrights or patents to issue to citizens of this country, shall not be entitled to copyrights or patents in the United States.a No further action by Congress has been taken in relation to either of these bills. II. International copyright relations The Berne Convention creating the International Copyright Union for the protection of works of literature and art was signed on September 9, 1886, and went into force on December 5, 1887. The Additional Agreement formulated at the first conference of revision, which met in Paris, was signed on May 4, 1896, and went into effect on December 9, 1897. This modified articles 2, 3, 5, 7, 12, and 20 of the convention, and Nos. 1 and 4 of the "Protocole de Clôture." A declaration interpreting certain provisions of the Berne Convention of 1886 and the Additional Agreement of Paris of 1896 was also signed on May 4, 1896, to go into effect on September 9, 1897. a 1909 (March 29).—A bill requiring any citizen of a foreign country who may apply for a copyright registration or for letters patent from the United States for an invention to pay to the United States for such copyright or patent the same amount of fees and be subject to the same laws, rules, and regulations relating to the registration of copyrights and the issuance of letters patent, and relating to the issuance and maintenance of copyrights and letters patent, as the government of such foreign country exacts by its laws and regulations from citizens of the United States in such cases. Presented by Mr. Stephens. H. R. bill 5882 Printed, 4 pp. 4o. [Referred to the Committee on Patents.] A second conference of revision was held in Berlin from October 14 to November 14, 1908, and a new text to take the place of the three documents cited above was formulated by the representatives of the following fifteen countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Tunis. Representatives from the following nonunion countries were also present at the conference: Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Mexico, the Netherlands (Holland), Nicaragua, Peru, Persia, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Siam, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Designated by the Secretary of State as Delegate from the United States, I attended the Berlin Conference instructed to "observe and report," with no authority to take part in the discussions beyond making an explanatory statement relative to my attendance. Mr. Arthur Orr, Third Secretary of the United States Embassy at Berlin, was also present at the sittings of the conference. The convention was signed on November 13 and the conference closed on November 14. Article 28 of the convention provides that it shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged at Berlin, not later than the 1st of July, 1910. To give prompt publicity to the proposed treaty the official text was, by resolution of the conference, published in the organ of the International Copyright Bureau at Berne, "Le Droit d'Auteur," for November 15. This French text of the treaty is reprinted here, together with an English translation from the text as published in "Le Droit d'Auteur." The new convention can not go into effect until ratified by the various countries of the Copyright Union, and it will not wholly supersede the previous Conventions of Berne (1886) and Paris (1896). These texts, therefore, are also printed in an English translation. and 2.) Respectfully submitted (See Addenda, Nos. 1 THORVALD SOLBERG Register of Copyrights HERBERT PUTNAM Librarian of Congress |