To meet this situation the bill provides that piratical copies shall be prohibited importation for sale or hire or other distribution in the United States, and that Such prohibition of importation shall extend also to any authorized foreign reprint of an American author's work or of a work by an alien author domiciled or resident in the United States, whenever an agreement authorizing such reprint shall stipulate that copies of such reprint shall not be brought into the United States: Provided, That such agreement shall have been recorded in the copyright office at Washington, and that the owner of the United States copyright shall have notified in writing the Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster General that the importation of copies of such work is in contravention of such agreement. It is believed that this control by the American author or his publisher of the importation of foreign reprints of such American author's book into the United States is reasonable and necessary to meet conditions arising under and due to the act of 1909. It is parallel to the frequently cited prohibition of importation into England of the well-known Tauchnitz reprints of English books. These are cheap editions of English and to some extent American books published in the English language for circulation in Germany and on the Continent under agreement that copies are not to be exported into England. Notice to that effect is usually printed in the copies, and their importation is stopped upon due notice to the English customs officials. It is to be observed, however, in this connection, that there is no corresponding prohibition of importation into Germany or other European countries of copies of the original English edition of such books. The circulation of the authorized copies of the original book is neither barred nor restricted. This question mainly concerns the importation into the United States of copies of the original English book in competition with the reprint of that book by an American publisher who has secured a license to reissue the book or to whom has been assigned the English author's copyright for the United States. Under the present obligatory manufacture of the English book in order to secure any copyright for it in the United States the importation of the original authorized copies is prohibited when the copies are imported for sale. The bill proposes to eliminate the requirement of American manufacture of the book, but does not propose prohibition of importation. of the original English book nor any restrictions upon its circulation. The English author, upon our entry into the union, will automatically secure copyright in the United States, which means a protected American market for his work. He may either export copies to the United States to supply the entire demand there for his book or arrange for its republication in the United States. In either case he will receive an agreed-upon royalty for every copy of his book sold in the United States. He may, when arranging for the republication of his book, agree not to sell copies of his original edition in the United States. It is a question of policy which Congress must determine, whether the copyright statute itself should contain provisions to prohibit or restrict the importation into the United States of copies of the English author's original edition whenever he has assigned his copyright for the United States to an American publisher or has licensed the latter to republish his work. The CHAIRMAN. Does any member of the committee wish to ask Mr. Solberg questions at this time? Mr. PERKINS. Probably some members, may want to ask Mr. Solberg some questions, and I suggest that those questions be asked a little later. Major Putnam is anxious to get to Princeton to deliver an address. He opposes the provisions of this bill, and I suggest that we permit him to make his statement now. Mr. REID. I second the motion. The CHAIRMAN. Before Mr. Putnam speaks, may I suggest that Mr. Woll, vice president of the American Federation of Labor, is here. He has to go out of town right after dinner and we will hear him immediately after we hear Mr. Putnam. Mr. REID. I want to reserve the right to ask some questions. Mr. Perkins is not chairman of this committee. The CHAIRMAN. Why that remark? Mr. REID. Because he has been trying to run this committee. The CHAIRMAN. Go ahead and ask Mr. Solberg any questions you desire. Mr. REID. I ask the right to recall Mr. Solberg later to ask some questions. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Solberg, I know, will be very glad to answer any questions you desire to ask him later. STATEMENT OF MR. GEO. HAVEN PUTNAM, OF NEW YORK CITY Mr. PUTNAM. I am here, Mr. Perkins, as the chairman of the Bureau of Copyright, representing not the interests and the business purposes of the American publishers, but the interests of their clients, the English authors, and of a number of their clients, the American authors; and also, as we claim, the interest of the book-buying people of the United States, who want to get American editions of the books that they have a right to read widely distributed, thoroughly published and at the lowest prices. I have, Mr. Chairman, been coming before this committee-not exactly the same men present here for a little more than 40 years, and I have therefore tackled this subject more than once. We are prepared, of course, to assume, we do assume that it is the purpose of our legislators to secure a copyright statute that shall meet the first requirement of copyright, namely, that it shall encourage the production and the distribution of literature. It is also doubtless your intention to have the provisions of the statute so worded that the interests of American authors shall be fully cared for; that equal privileges, as called for under our reciprocity arrangement with Great Britain and with other countries, shall be given to English and to other trans-Atlantic authors; that American publishers and other American citizens who are interested in the manufacture of books shall be put at least on an equal footing. We do not ask for anything more than equality with the book manufacturers on the other side of the Atlantic; that the requirement of the American reader for good literature to be fully distributed throughout our entire large market and to be sold at the lowest possible price, shall be properly made; and, finally, that the statute shall be so worded that it shall meet the requirements of the convention of Berne, and so enable the United States to accept membership in common with the other literature-producing countries of the world. We are in sympathy-those whom I represent-with the main purpose of this bill. It is full time that this great literature producing and literature consuming country accepted membership with the other civilized nations in the convention. We are also, of course, in sympathy with the purpose of the register of copyrights, who has been giving scholarly and devoted service to this subject for a good many years to simplify and to improve the effective wording of the copyright statutes that should become law. We have occasion, however, to find out that certain of the provisions in the law as it now exists and in the statute that is now proposed do not meet the requirements above specified. The first provisions of the pending act secure for the author, as has been the case with the provisions of the preceding American acts and of the copyright acts of other countries, the full control of the property rights in the work produced by him. It is recognized that it is only when the exclusive control is vested in the author that he is placed in the position, in assigning the publishing rights in the several markets in which his book can be sold and secure from each market the largest possible return, the law gives him the exclusive right to print, to publish, to vend and to assign the privileges of printing, publishing and vending. In section 41, however, which prohibits the importation into this country of trans-Atlantic editions Mr. BLOOм. Just a minute. Section 41 of this bill? Mr. BLOOм. Just a minute. Mr. PUTNAM. Which prohibits Mr. BLOOм. All right; go ahead. Mr. PUTNAM (continuing). The importation into this country of trans-Atlantic editions of the copyrighted works of an American author it is important only for British editions no such prohibition is made to apply to the works of an English author, or of other trans-Atlantic authors. Mr. BLOOM. Pardon me, are you reading from the bill? Mr. PUTNAM. I am quoting the substance. I do not use the exact language of the bill; I use my own language. Mr. BLOOM. What part of the bill are you referring to? Mr. PUTNAM. If you will look at the line there, sir, you will see the restrictions of a prohibition, say, to works of an American author which has been the copyright law ever since we had a copyright law. I just want to call attention to the discrimination where the importation of trans-Atlantic editions of works of an English author is left open for libraries or for individuals. This prohibition is restricted to importations of copies of trans-Atlantic editions "for sale." This leaves the market open for the purchase by libraries, or by individuals, of the copies of the trans-Atlantic editions of the books, the copyright of which has been duly secured in this country-usually purchased by the American publishers-and the publishing rights in which have been purchased by American publishers. If an English author is not in a position to assign to an American publisher the full control of the American market, the compensation secured by him from this market is of necessity lessened. It is as if a man should undertake to convey the title to a field, but was obliged to admit that the field was open for the use of anybody who desired to camp upon it. The title which he could give would have a personal value only. I think it probably also that this distinction made between the English and the American author may be held by the authorities in Berne to be a contravention of the regulations of the Berne. I know that it is in contravention to the copyright arrangement which was put through in 1891 with Great Britain, an arrangement with which Minister Lowell had something to do. It is not placing the English and the American author on the same basis, and they are entitled under reciprocity to equal rights in this market; and as they have the equal rights they can not get their full price for selling this market. Mr. LANHAM. Mr. Putnam, do you object to an interruption? Mr. REID. I object, unless I am going to be permitted to interrupt, too. Mr. HAMMER. I do not think this is a proper way to proceed. We ought to let the witness go along until he gets through. Mr. REID. You can not play any favorites in this matter. Mr. PUTNAM. Could not the gentleman take notes, and then ask me questions when I have finished? Mr. REID. I think he ought to do that. Mr. PUTNAM. I will do as you gentlemen say. I want to meet your wishes. The CHAIRMAN. Proceed, Mr. Putnam. Mr. PUTNAM. We, who carry on the book business in this countryand I am a book manufacturer and publisher and retailer, also, so I know the three sides of the business, and I realize the increasing extent to which this market is being occupied, so to speak-to use the trade term-by English editions of books the ownership of which has been purchased by American publishers. The agents in London are collecting lists of book buyers throughout the United States, as they have a perfect right to do under the law as enterprising business men. They send these individuals circulars saying, "We can supply these books." Of course, they have the libraries on their lists, and the libraries are in constant relations with them. As a result, we are selling, those of us who are interested in selling here American editions of English books, fewer and fewer copies of such books from year to year. The only person who is not permitted under the present law, or under the proposed statute, to import the English book into this country, is the American publisher who has purchased the copyright of that book--and I ask you whether that is just. We have people who want to import the English editions or collect them-libraries. They have a right to get that edition, of course. The owners of the copyright are not permitted the representatives of English owners or authors are not permitted to import those copies of English editions because my house would import for sale. Therefore, the business of sending those books over is of necessity transferred to the agent in London, an enterprising fellow who will get all the business he can under the American law. I do not know any other American law which is so shaped as to give a special advantage to the dealer on the other side of the Atlantic. I do not want any privilege or any advantage over him; I merely want equal rights and no favor. That is not equal rights, and that is a favor to the man on the other side of the Atlantic. A large portion of the books published by a house like my own are addressed particularly to the needs of the libraries. I will give as one example the Cambridge History of English Literature, 14 volumes, selling for $70. We have invested-I speak in the first person, because it is easier to use examples from my own firm, but there are examples which could be used for other publishing lists— $35,000 in that book. We did it in expectation at the time we made the investment that there would shortly be an improved copyright law, an American law which would give to the American investor publisher the control of that which he had bought. In the face of any such change in the law, we have here an undertaking to perpetuate an injustice under which we can not import the English copies of the English editions of that work for the individual or for the librarians who on one ground or another prefer, as he has a right to prefer, that edition. That business has got to be turned over to the agent in London, and after our travelers have been about the country presenting the description of that work to the attention of this and that librarian, the librarian takes note and orders the copy from his English agent, with whom he has a standing purchasing arrangement, even though, as we believe it is in this case, our set is not only as good, but, we think, rather better. It is easy for any library which has a standing purchasing order to let it stand and not bother his agent with any exceptions. Now, we admit that the library, if it has ground or has prejudice, even, in favor of the English edition-we certainly admit that the collector who, on one ground or another, prefers to have his library made up of English editions shall have the privilege of getting those books; he ought not to be debarred. We claim simply that for the books of an English author, as for the book of the American author, under all the copyright laws that we have ever had in this country, if the book has been duly copyrighted and a copy of the English edition is wanted, the importation shall be made through the owner of the copyright. We simply want that amount of respect paid to the man who, under what he assumed would be the protection of the American law, has made an investment for the presentation of important literature to the American people, that he shall have that amount of respect paid to his investment and to his ownership. It is of interest-I am not merely speaking for the business interests of the publishers or of their clients, the authors-and I emphasize that it is not to the interests of the American author that the machinery or the facilities of the American publishers should be diminishedif an important part of their business, namely, the publishing of books of the English authors is taken away, the distributing facilities of the American publisher will be lessened, and that will not be to the advantage of our friends in the authors' society; and there are a good many authors on my list who recognize that. But the American book buyer has a direct interest, first, in having the book adequately published that is to say, by "published" I mean made known by advertisement and by representatives in distant cities-not merely in the. Capital, in New York, Philadelphia, or Boston, but by travelers pro |