tial interest was divided. It does not offer to you the bill as one that The bill comes before you with precisely that presumption to which The conference had certain aids prepared in advance by the copy- The conferences occupied eleven days in all, of twenty-two sessions-- The bill attempts to be both. It is, as you see, divided into eight I have furnished to your committee some analysis of it. That analy- (The memorandum above referred to was, by direction of the com- MEMORANDUM. A.-Some leading features. As the present law consists of but a group of statutes, and the proposed bill is sys- Nature and extent.—Section 1, like section 9, is fundamental. The existing law and finishing," but attempts others intended to be fully as broad. [Please see sec. 1.] The copyright is to protect "all the copyrightable component parts of the work Subject-matter of copyright.-A general statement that it is to include "all the works The specifications [sec. 5] substitute, so far as possible, general terms for particu- Express mention is made of oral lectures, sermons, and addresses; periodicals, Labels and prints relating to articles of manufacture hereafter to be registered in Additions, revisions, abridgments, dramatizations, translations, etc., to be regarded Who may obtain copyright.-As broad as heretofore. International reciprocal How to secure copyright.-The copyright is to be "secured" by publication of the Registration is provided for works (e. g., works of art) of which copies are not The deposit to be not later than thirty days after publication; in the case of a peri- In case of a printed book the copies deposited must be accompanied with the Extends [sec. 13] the "manufacturing clause" to include texts produced by litho- The articles required to be deposited are to be entitled to free transmittal through The notice of copyright simplified. Specified only for the copies "published or Ad interim term [sec. 16].-Extends the ad interim term of protection in the case Duration [sec. 18].—Instead of the present term (forty-two years), varying terms The bill also makes provision for the extension of subsisting copyrights to agree with the term provided in the present bill where the author is living or his widow or a child, provided the publisher or other assignee joins in the application for such extension. (See section 19 of the draft.) The right of dramatization or translation must be exercised within ten years or it will lapse. Protection of copyright.-The present statute (Rev. Stat., sec. 4965) attempts to define acts which shall constitute infringements. The bill, having defined the exclusive rights which the copyright has secured to the author, defines (sec. 23) infringement as "doing or causing to be done" without his consent "any act the exclusive right to do or authorize which" is "reserved" to him. It contains, however (sec. 22), the one specification that "any reproduction" without his consent "of any work or any material part of any work" in which copyright is subsisting, shall be illegal and is prohibited. The civil remedies open to him (sec. 23) are the injunction and an action for damages and profits, or, in lieu of actual damages and profits, "such damages as to the court shall appear just, to be assessed" upon the basis of so much per copy or infringing act, but to be not less than a total minimum of $250 and maximum of $5,000. And the infringing copies are to include all copies made by the defendant, and not merely those "found in his possession" or "sold or exposed for sale." A provision for the impounding and destruction of infringing copies and means for producing them. Protection provided for [sec. 21] against publication or reproduction of any unpublished copyrightable work. A willful infringement for profit, now a misdemeanor in the case of such a performance or representation of dramatic or musical compositions, is made a misdemeanor in all cases, as is also the insertion of a false notice of a copyright or the removal of a true one. [Sec. 22.] Importations [secs. 26-29].-Detailed provision for the treatment of copies supposed to be infringing or otherwise prohibited. Exceptions to prohibition modified as below under memorandum "B." Suits [secs. 32, etc.]-Actions may be instituted "in the district of which the defendant is an inhabitant, or in a district where the violation of any provision of the act has occurred." Limitation of actions to be three years instead of two and to apply to all actions under the act. [Sec. 34.] Transfers [secs. 37-45].-Definitions of the copyright as distinct from the property in the material object and of the copyrights in derivative works as distinct among themselves. The copyright office. -Sections 46 to 60 provide specifically for the administration of this. Catalogue of title entries.-Detailed provision is made for the continuance of the printing of the catalogue on the allotment for printing of the Library of Congress (see secs. 55 and 56 of the draft); and the catalogue is to be made prima facie evidence of deposit and registration. Provision is made for the reprinting of the indexes and catalogues in classes at stated intervals, with authority to destroy the manuscript cards included in such printed volumes. The current catalogues to be distributed from the copyright office, and sold at a price fixed by the register; the subscriptions to be received by the superintendent of public documents. Following the provisions for the indexing and cataloguing of the articles deposited, provisions are made, in sections 57, 58, and 59 of the draft for the public inspection of the copyright office record books and deposits; for the permanent use of such deposited articles; for their transfer to other Government libraries where unnecessary to the Library of Congress; and for the disposal of accumulations of useless articles. Section 60 provides for fees. A uniform fee of $1 for registration; but this is to include the certificate which is to be furnished in all cases [a separate charge is now made for it]. And the certificate is given a new importance as prima facie evidence of the facts which it sets forth, including deposit and registration, thus exempting the complainant in an action from other affirmative proof of compliance with these formalities. A single fee for certain registrations heretofore requiring multiple fees. B.—Provisions of existing law which are omitted from the bill. The existing law is set forth in the twenty-odd pages of "Copyright Office Bulletin No. 1." It consists of Article I, section 8, of the Constitution, sections 4948 to 4970, inclusive, of the Revised Statutes, and twelve later acts in amendment thereof. The substantial provisions of these which are intentionally abrogated are the following [references are to pages of the Bulletin, copy herewith]: [Section 4950, page 6.-Omitted in the bill, but exists still as part of the act of February 19, 1897.] Section 4952, page 64.-Ad interim copyright. The requirement for notice (of date of publication and reservation of copyright) on the foreign edition is abolished. Section 4952, page 7.-Labels and prints relating to articles of manufacture no longer to be registered in the Patent Office, but in the copyright office, with corresponding reduction of fee. Section 4954, page 7.-Renewal term abolished. Section 4956, page 8.-Requirement that the deposit of copies shall be "on or before the date of publication" is abolished, and a margin of thirty days is allowed, with provisions for making good omissions within a year. The deposit (registration) is no longer to be the act entitling to a copyright. The copyright is to be "secured" by "the publication of the work with the notice of copyright affixed," and dates from such publication. Registration with deposit remains compulsory, and after the expiration of the thirty days no action for infringement can be brought until it has been made; but it is no longer expressed as a formality the failure to comply with which is to avoid the copyright. Section 4956, page 8.-Preliminary deposit of title or description abolished. "Photographs" omitted from the "manufacturing clause.' ["Chromos" also, in terms, but assumed to be covered by "lithographs."] Section 4956, page 9.—Importation by individuals of the foreign edition (two copies at any one time) is abolished except with the assent of the American copyright proprietor, and the two copies at a time are throughout reduced to one. The privilege of societies and institutions (under the act of October 1, 1890) is no longer to include the importation, without such assent, of "a foreign reprint of a book by an American author copyrighted in the United States unless copies of the American edition can not be supplied by the American publisher or copyright proprietor;" and the society or institution must be incorporated, unless it be a "college, academy, school, or seminary of learning or a "State school, college, university, or free public library." Section 4957, page 9.-The particular language of the entry in the record books of the copyright office is no longer specified. Section 4959, page 11.-Deposit of "subsequent editions" not required unless the "changes" which they contain are "substantial" enough to induce a new registration. Section 4960, page 12.-Provisions of act of March 1, 1893, dropped as no longer effective. Section 4962, page 13.-Notice.-The date and the word "by" no longer required in the notice. The abbreviation "Copr.," and in certain cases the letter C within a circle, permissible instead of the full word "Copyright." Sections 4963, page 13; 4964, page 14; 4965, page 15; 4966, page 16.-Penalties imposed for acts in the nature of misdemeanors no longer to be shared by the United States with "a person" suing for them; sums recovered by way of compensation to the copyright proprietor not to be shared by him with the United States. All infringements willful and for profit made misdemeanors, and the remedies provided by sections 4965 and 4966, including the specifications of a definite sum for each infringing copy, etc., and a minimum and maximum total are expressed definitely as compensation to the copyright proprietor rather than penalties. Section 4964, page 14.-Witnesses not to be required for the written consent of the copyright proprietor. Act of March 3, 1891, page 18.-Only one fee to be required in case of several volumes, or numbers or (in certain cases) parts of a series deposited at the same time with a view to a single registration. Act of January 7, 1904, page 19.-Omitted as obsolete. I have particularly noted in this memorandum the points in which the bill intentionally abrogates existing law and the more significant respects in which it modifies or amplifies it. The respects in which it intentionally abrogates existing law are very few, as shown in Part B of the memorandum. The phraseology of existing law is only here and there recognizable in the bill. That is because the bill attempts to be systematic and organic, and, second, because it has sought general terms, wherever descriptive, rather than particular specifications. Especially has it preferred this where the specifications might be limiting. This, as I have noted in the memorandum submitted to you, is particularly illustrated by the treatment of the "subject-matter." The bill contains only the general statement that the subject-matter is to include "all the works of an author," leaving the term "author" to be as broad as the Constitution intended; and, as you know, the courts have followed Congress in construing it to include the originator in the broadest sense, just as they have held "writings," as used in the Constitution, to include not merely literary but artistic productions. After this general statement certain specifications follow in the bill of particular classes under which a particular application is to be made in the office, but these specifications are coupled with the proviso that they shall not be held to limit the subject-matter. The specifications so far as possible also substitute general terms for particulars. They omit, for instance, the terms "engravings, cuts, lithographs, painting, chromo, statues and statuary." They assume, however, that all of these articles will be included under the more general terms, as "prints and pictorial illustrations" or "reproductions of a work of art" or "works of art" or "models or designs for works of art." The term "works of art" is deliberately intended as a broader specification than "works of the fine arts" in the present statute with the idea that there is subject-matter (for instance, of applied design, not yet within the province of design patents), which may properly be entitled to protection under the copyright law. The attempt to substitute general terms for particulars is evidenced also in the definition of the right, and of the acts which constitute an infringement of the right. The present statute (sec. 4952) defines the right to consist in the sole liberty to do certain things. The bill (sec. 1) defines the right to be the sole and exclusive right to do certain things, and it specifies those things; but its specifications are in terms very different from those in the present statute. The present statute (secs. 4965 and 4966) specifies certain acts which are to be deemed an infringement. The bill, having defined the right of the copyright proprietor as the exclusive right to do certain things, defines an infringement to consist in the doing or causing to be done without his consent of any of those things, the right to do or authorize which is exclusively reserved to him. It contents itself with this, adding only the one specification that "any reproduction," without his consent, "of any work or material part of any work in which [his] copyright is subsisting," shall be an infringement. So as to the person who may obtain copyright: The present statute mentions the author, inventor, designer, or proprietor," and elsewhere the "originator." The bill rests with the term used in the Constitution, "author," adding only "proprietor," which is not merely in the existing statutes, but has been construed in a series of judicial decisions. Copyright consists of the exclusive right within a defined period to do certain things with certain subject-matter and to prevent other people from doing these things. The fundamental provisions of the copyright law are therefore these four: What is the subject-matter? What are the acts? How may the exclusive right to do them be secured? |