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THE AMERICAN MANUFACTURING PROVISIONS

In the American law of 1891, embodying the "inter- Manufacturnational copyright amendment" which for the first ing provision of 1891 time permitted the copyright in the United States of works by foreign authors not resident in this country, the copyright of books was conditioned on the manufacture within the United States, and this condition was made applicable also to American authors.

code

The American code of 1909 follows this precedent Text in 1909 in making manufacture within the United States a sine qua non of copyright for printed books and periodicals, lithographs and photo-engravings, under the following provision (sec. 15), commonly cited as the manufacturing provision: "That of the printed book or periodical specified in section five, subsections (a) and (b) of this Act, except the original text of a book of foreign origin in a language or languages other than English, the text of all copies accorded protection under this Act, except as below provided, shall be printed from type set within the limits of the United States, either by hand or by the aid of any kind of typesetting machine, or from plates made within the limits of the United States from type set therein, or, if the text be produced by lithographic process, or photo-engraving process, then by a process wholly performed within the limits of the United States, and the printing of the text and binding of the said book shall be performed within the limits of the United States; which requirements shall extend also to the illustrations within a book consisting of

Scope and exceptions

Changes

1891-1909

printed text and illustrations produced by lithographic process, or photo-engraving process, and also to separate lithographs or photo-engravings, except where in either case the subjects represented are located in a foreign country and illustrate a scientific work or reproduce a work of art; but they shall not apply to works in raised characters for the use of the blind, or to books of foreign origin in a language or languages other than English, or to books published abroad in the English language seeking ad interim protection under this Act."

This manufacturing provision requires that every "book" except the original text of a book of foreign origin, i. e., not by an American writer in a language or languages other than English, or a book published abroad in the English language seeking ad interim protection, or a book in raised characters for the use of the blind, can obtain American copyright whether by an American or foreign author, only in case the type is set, the plates made and lithographic or photoengraving text or illustrations produced and the work printed and bound within the limits of the United States-inclusive, presumably, of the outlying dependencies. The provision extends to periodicals, though these are not subjected to the affidavit clause, and periodicals containing authorized copyrighted material are not prohibited from importation. The provisions extend also to lithographs or photo-engravings, issued separately as well as for book illustration, unless these represent foreign subjects or illustrate a scientific work or reproduce a work of art.

The provision of 1909 differs from the provision of 1891 in requiring that a book should be from plates type-set as well as made, and be printed and bound, within the United States, in adding periodicals and by omitting photographs and dropping the word

1

chromo, and including photo-engravings as well as lithographs. The inclusion of binding in the manufacturing provision met with especial opposition, on the ground that binding is not an integral part of, but an incidental addition to, a completed book.

instances

The effect of these provisions, to cite specific in- Germanstances, is that an original German text by a non- American American author is exempt from the manufacturing provisions, but that a French translation or an English translation is not, and that an original German work by an American author must be manufactured in this country to obtain protection, and that the American author printing his work in English abroad may claim ad interim protection but can obtain no substantial benefit from it. In case a German-American citizen, or German resident of this country, writes a book in the German language and prints it first in Berlin, he can have no American copyright in the German edition; and if copies of such an edition, without copyright notice, should reach the United States previous to manufacture and publication of the work here, any one would have the right to reprint it, and the work would be practically dedicated to the public, while the copyright notice could not be affixed to such foreign printed edition without violation of the law. If, however, the German work were a translation made by or for the author of a work written in English, the general copyright of the English work would cover the German edition, but the German copies could not then be imported.

A drama copyrightable as such under subsection Dramas (d) is not subject to the manufacturing provision, excepted unless classified as a book under subsection (a). A printed drama was held not to be subject as a book to the manufacturing provision in Hervieu v. Ogilvie, in the U. S. Circuit Court, by Judge Martin

Exception of foreign origi

nal texts

Exception of

trative sub

jects

in 1909, and this decision under the old law is applicable to the new code.

The exception of "the original text of a book of foreign origin in a language or languages other than English," - drafted by the author of the present volume, introduced at the instance of the American (Authors) Copyright League, as the McCall bill with the assent of the representatives of the typographical unions responsible for the manufacturing provision, was included to assure a real reciprocity in copyright with continental and other non-English nations. The exception is repeated toward the close of the section in the somewhat wider phrase “books of foreign origin in a language or languages other than English," which omits restriction to "the original text"; but it is probable that the second phrasing would be construed in conformity with the first, as the evident intention of the law.

The exception from lithographs and photo-enforeign illus- gravings of subjects which "are located in a foreign country and illustrate a scientific work or reproduce a work of art" is intended to permit the importation, either separately or for book use, of direct reproductions made abroad of scenes or objects which otherwise could be reproduced in this country only indirectly and at second-hand; the confusing and probably careless use of the word "and" might seem to exclude from the exemption a lithograph or photoengraving of a natural scene, illustrating a work of travel, but the courts might here feel justified in taking the more liberal view.

Affidavit

To the manufacturing provision of the previous requirement law has been added a new affidavit requirement

(sec. 16) as follows:

"That in the case of the book the copies so deposited shall be accompanied by an affidavit, under

the official seal of any officer authorized to administer oaths within the United States, duly made by the person claiming copyright or by his duly authorized agent or representative residing in the United States, or by the printer who has printed the book, setting forth that the copies deposited have been printed from type set within the limits of the United States or from plates made within the limits of the United States from type set therein; or, if the text be produced by lithographic process, or photo-engraving process, that such process was wholly performed within the limits of the United States, and that the printing of the text and binding of the said book have also been performed within the limits of the United States. Such affidavit shall state also the place where and the establishment or establishments in which such type was set or plates were made or lithographic process, or photo-engraving process or printing and binding were performed and the date of the completion of the printing of the book or the date of publication."

In preparing the affidavit, which is necessary for Avoidance books only, the applicant should be careful to note of errors the following points, as to which errors are commonly made. The affidavit should correspond exactly with the application (as that with the title-page or other data in the work itself). The affidavit cannot be made till after publication and must state the exact day of publication or the date of completion, either or both, which last means not necessarily the completion of printing the whole edition, but of the deposit copies. The affidavit must be taken and signed by an individual, not by a corporation, company or firm as such, and the affiant must state whether he is the claimant, agent of the claimant, or printer, striking out the other designations. The name of the printer