Arguments before the Committee on Patents of the House of Representatives Part 15

Mr. PUTNAM. That is page 12, line 18, is it not, Mr. Chaney?

Mr. CHANEY. Yes. The word "undertaking," you know, is used by lawyers generally in the sense of a bond or some agreement to stand good for the default of another, whereas "action" is the name of the suit.

Mr. PUTNAM. This was not intended to apply to a legal action.

Mr. CHANEY. But is it not in the same nature?

Mr. PUTNAM. No; it was simply meant to apply to the beginning of some enterprise, the beginning to prepare to manufacture. It is a business undertaking, not a legal one.

Mr. CHANEY. I misunderstood it, then.

Mr. BONYNGE. That is what I understood it to be--an enterprise.

Mr. CURRIER. You might let the two words go out, so it would read, "who, after notification of the copyright, begins to infringe it."

Then it would be a question of fact.

Mr. PUTNAM. Mr. Chairman, you have asked me to announce that it will be the desire of the committee to have the names and addresses of all those present at these hearings, and the relations in which, if they desire to express it, they are here, whether in favor of or in opposition to the bill. We have provided a register at the door in which those names can be noted. I understand that it is desired that that shall extend to all those present.

The CHAIRMAN. All present, and in such form that it may be placed in the record that we are making.

Mr. CHANEY. You mean also to include, I suppose, a brief expression from these people as to their objections, and to what their objections related?

Mr. PUTNAM. Yes. The register will be supplemented by their communications, I suppose--the register itself, including their names.

Mr. Horace Pett.i.t, Mr. Chairman, who spoke yesterday, desires to supplement his remarks with an additional suggestion or two, which he has put in writing, and asks simply to have entered in the record, with your permission.

Doctor Lewandowski, present here, asks me to submit a request in writing from a firm of music publishers in New York, that he submit to you a communication in aid of the provisions for the protection of music publishers against reproduction by mechanical devices. He submits that in writing, with the request that it may be entered on the record.

(The various papers above mentioned will be found at the end of this statement of Mr. Putnam.)

Mr. PUTNAM. The copyright office, Mr. Chairman, is now in receipt, naturally, since the bill has been introduced, of some suggestions from those who have partic.i.p.ated in the conferences, and since the bill has been introduced and is in the custody of your committee it would seem that those belong to the files of your committee. If you will permit me, I will submit these, without reading them, to be entered in the record.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you think they ought to be printed in the record of the meeting?

Mr. PUTNAM. I do, Mr. Chairman. I do not refer to mere formal communications, or those that may be disposed of absolutely by the copyright office. I do not mean all communications that come to us with reference to the bill. These are simply four communications, from four partic.i.p.ants in the conference. One of them, Mr. A. W. Elson, makes certain definite proposals for amendments, including one to section 13 which would extend the manufacturing clause. He has sent a copy of this to you, Mr. Chairman, and I a.s.sume that it will go in the record, with the request for a hearing.

The second is from Mr. Edmund C. Stedman, who was a partic.i.p.ant, but is in ill-health, and can not be here; but it contains an expression upon the bill that I think should go in the record.

Another is from Mr. Leo Feist, also a partic.i.p.ant, and contains an expression about the bill that he would have made here orally if present. I think that should go in.

Another is from Mr. Ansley Wilc.o.x, who represented certain lithographic interests very much concerned with the protection of such prints as posters, and very much concerned, therefore, in the specifications of subject-matter. He writes a communication which I think should go into the record, expressing his content with the specifications of sections 4 and 5.

The CHAIRMAN. Those will be printed in the record.

(The above-mentioned papers will also be found at the end of this statement of Mr. Putnam.)

Mr. PUTNAM. I have information, Mr. Chairman, that when the matter of the reproduction of music by mechanical devices comes up for discussion, Mr. John J. O'Connell, an attorney of New York, would like to be heard, representing ten manufacturers of automatic piano players in New York City, and desiring to be heard only in opposition to those portions of the bill respecting musical copyrights, and that in connection with the same general subject-matter Mr. Howlett Davis, an inventor of material that enters into these devices, desires an opportunity to make some opening remarks, pointing out how the proposed bill will, if enacted, act in restraint of invention, and show how it encroaches upon the existing patent laws.

If it is your pleasure, now, Mr. Chairman, I would suggest that it would be helpful to have an expression from the librarians dissenting from the a.s.sent of the American Library a.s.sociation with regard to the importation clause, while Colonel Olin's remarks are fresh in mind, and if that is your pleasure, I think it is only fair that I should make clear the status of that provision.

The list of partic.i.p.ants in the conference included two a.s.sociations that might be interested or were certain to be interested in these importation provisions. One was the National Educational a.s.sociation and the other the American Library a.s.sociation. These importation clauses concededly contain a restriction, a limitation, a diminution of existing privileges of importations enjoyed by individuals and enjoyed by certain inst.i.tutions.

The National Educational a.s.sociation might well have spoken for both individuals and inst.i.tutions and generally. As a matter of fact, it should be clear that the partic.i.p.ation of the National Educational a.s.sociation in the conferences was of the slightest. They were invited, we urged them to be represented, and they were present by delegate at the first and the second conferences; but their partic.i.p.ation was of the slightest. There was no expression from them upon the diminution in the case of individuals, and they contented themselves at the outset with an expression of dissent from any provisions which tended to diminish in any way the present privileges of libraries.

The American Library a.s.sociation was present by two accredited delegates, who considered, by later action of the representative board of the a.s.sociation, that they had authority to represent the a.s.sociation in a.s.senting to final provisions. Those two delegates were the present president of the American Library a.s.sociation, Mr. Frank P. Hill, of the Brooklyn Public Library, and Mr. Frank C. Bostwick, of the New York Public Library. Mr. Bostwick was here yesterday, but has had to leave to-day. Colonel Olin's remarks included the American Library a.s.sociation as one of those a.s.sociations for whom he could give a general a.s.sent to the bill substantially as it stood. Coupled with that, however, should, I think, be before you this entry in the record of our conference in March last. At that conference these provisions were, I believe, substantially (as far as they regarded libraries) as they stand in the bill, except that one proviso has been added, which is rather in favor of libraries, as we understand it, than otherwise. They expressed themselves then thus:

Mr. HILL. There is very little that I need to say. The paragraph relating to the copyright respecting the libraries has been taken up very carefully by the executive board and the council and by the delegates, and we are satisfied as an a.s.sociation with the draft as submitted, and, personally, I approve of the change which has been agreed to this morning between the publishers and the delegates. That related to the additional proviso that they should not be prohibited from importing foreign editions in these exceptional cases, where they could not get the American edition.

I think it is only fair to state, Mr. Librarian, that while the executive board and the council of the American Library a.s.sociation have both voted for the adoption of this draft there will be individual opposition. There are some librarians and some libraries that are opposed to any change in any part of the law which affects importation, and so have reserved the right to oppose that part of the bill. I think it is due to you that such statement may be made, so that you may know the individual opinion as well as the general one.

If Mr. Bostwick had been here, he would to-day have called attention to that. I do it simply because those delegates are not here to say that; and I do it in order to give Mr. Cutter's remarks a proper standing before you. Mr. Cutter, as I understand it, represents librarians and libraries who object to any diminution of the present privileges.

(The papers referred to during the foregoing statement by Mr. Putnam are as follows:)

THE NEW WILLARD, _Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., June 7, 1906_.

_To the honorable Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives._

GENTLEMEN: Referring to the proposed bill to amend and consolidate the acts respecting copyright, now before the committee, I would propose the following amendments:

Amend section 3 (p. 3, line 8) by adding continuously at the end of said section the following:

"_And provided_, That no devices, contrivances, or appliances, or dies, or matrices for making the same, such as referred to in clause (g), section 1, made prior to the date this act shall go into effect, shall be subject to any subsisting copyright."

Amend section 5 (p. 4, lines 2 to 3) by adding, between lines 2 and 3, before the word "photographs," the following: "(j) talking-machine records."

Amend section 18, clause (b) (p. 14, line 14), by adding, between the word "composition" and the word "any," the words "any talking-machine record;"

Amend section 23 by striking out from the clause marked "First"

(p. 17, lines 18 to 20) the following: "or any device especially adapted to reproduce to the ear any copyrighted work."

Amend section 23 by inserting in the clause marked "Fourth" (p.

18, line 4), between the words "of" and "all," the following: "any device, contrivance, or appliance mentioned in section 1, clause (g) and".

Hoping that these proposed amendments will meet with the approval of the committee, I remain,

Yours, very respectfully,

HORACE PETt.i.t, _For Victor Talking Machine Company_.

JOS. W. STERN & CO., MUSIC PUBLISHERS, _New York, June 5, 1906_.

Dr. D. P. LEWANDOWSKI, _Care of Raleigh Hotel, Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C._

MY DEAR DOCTOR: We herewith authorize you to represent us and speak in favor of the copyright bill at the meeting of the committee. Honorable Senator Kittredge, or any other honorable gentleman who will do anything to further the pa.s.sage of this bill, will earn our everlasting grat.i.tude and will be working for the advancement of an industry which has been sorely oppressed by piracy and injustice.

There is an excellent opportunity now to show fair play to a body of citizens who have been working at a disadvantage and fighting for years for their just rights and for proper and adequate protection from the Government.