Part 41 (1/2)

Section 35, line 8, the word ”full” should be canceled; and in line 9, after ”allowed,” there should be inserted ”according to the practice of law and equity.”

In many cases it might be inequitable to allow costs, and the court should be left free to exercise its legal discretion.

Section 36, line 11, the word ”common” should be inserted before the word ”law.” This section should be compared with section 2, and they should be consolidated, or preferably they should both be omitted as unnecessary and as being outside of the purview of this act.

Section 38, line 23, there should be inserted after the word ”musical” the word ”-dramatic.”

Line 25, the word ”make” should be canceled and there should be inserted the words ”produce by.”

It is evident that the right to make belongs to the patentee of the device.

Page 30, line 1, the words ”ninety days” should be changed to ”three months” as more convenient and as excluding any contention whether or not Sundays and holidays are included in the ninety days. The similar provision of the patent law reads ”three months.”

Section 44 should be amended by inserting after ”a.s.signment”, in line 12, the words: ”and index the same under the name of the person by whom the original entry of copyright was made.”

Section 45 should be amended so that lines 21 to 23 shall read as follows: ”signee shall in all cases give in the statutory notice of copyright prescribed by this act the name of the person by whom the original entry of the copyright was made.”

Without this provision the public will be put to great inconvenience in finding the original entry on which the copyright depends. The copyright notice should be of a clear and specific character so as to cause the public as little inconvenience and uncertainty as possible.

Paragraph 52 should be amended by striking out ”provided” and all thereafter to the end of the paragraph in lines 2 and 3 of page 33. This provision is altogether too broad and the courts should be left free to determine what are conditions precedent to a valid copyright and whether there has been any breach of them.

Section 54 should be amended by striking out the words ”the date of the” and inserting ”that the affidavit states the dates of;”

and in line 20 cancel the words ”as stated in the said affidavit,”

and insert the words ”which dates shall be given in the certificate.”

Section 55 provides for the destruction of card catalogues. The wisdom of this provision is very doubtful. A single card catalogue for each cla.s.s of copyright work would save an immense amount of time and error to the public, and to the Librarian in making searches. Instead of periodically destroying card catalogues, they should be added to and preserved. As soon as they are destroyed, instead of being able to make one examination of one part of the card catalogue, the public will be compelled to examine a great number of periodically made printed indexes. I therefore suggest that the words ”and thereupon”, to and including the word ”intervals,” lines 9 to 12 of page 34, be canceled.

As to the destruction of articles provided for in section 59, I suggest that the section be amended by inserting in line 10 of page 36, after the word ”provided,” the words ”and with the authorization of the Committees on Patents of the Senate and of the House of Representatives.”

Section 63 should be amended by striking out the words ”sold or placed on” in line 7, and by inserting ”made public, or sold publicly or privately, or placed on public.”

As to section 64, I have to suggest that the present bill is supposed to be what may be termed a codification of the copyright law; if so, section 4966 of the Revised Statutes has no proper place outside of this bill. If there is anything desirable in the section it should be embodied in the bill at the proper place, and in doing so it should be made plain that the word ”musical” where it first occurs in section 4966 means ”musical-dramatic,” meaning thereby a composition which is dependent upon representation or performance in the dramatic sense.

I do not believe that the people of this country are aware of what the musical composers and publishers are attempting to do in the way of securing monopolies.

If the public were aware that these persons, after having secured copyrights giving them the exclusive right of copying and publis.h.i.+ng music for sale, and after having sold the copies of such music are attempting to secure laws by which they may impose further taxes upon the public for the use of such music by singing or playing, and are seeking to provide fines and terms of imprisonment for those members of the public who do not pay the additional tax, there will be such a storm of protests before your committees as could not be disregarded.

Section 4966 of the Revised Statutes should be repealed altogether, and so far as its provisions appear in this bill they should be limited to musical-dramatic compositions, and the provisions for damages other than actual damages and for imprisonment should be absolutely eliminated.

Very respectfully,

H. N. LOW.

The ACTING CHAIRMAN. Now we will hear the gentleman who represents the talking machines.

STATEMENT OF S. T. CAMERON, ESQ., REPRESENTING THE AMERICAN GRAPHOPHONE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK CITY.

Mr. CAMERON. Gentlemen, the first objection we have to the bill is, in our mind, the most serious one, and one which has been several times touched upon heretofore, so that I shall not attempt to go into any very great detail in discussing it here, but shall simply call attention to the fact that we object to it, and point out to you why, in connection with our particular business, it is especially important.