Re-copyright
objectionablecopyright on his original sketch or on his original work under date of its beginning, again on the finished original under date of its completion, and possibly again on reproductions under the date of the first publication of copies; and when also the artist changed the name of his work under these progressions, confusion became worse confounded. From this superfluous zeal and mistaken carefulness, serious results have come, as in Caliga v.. Inter-Ocean Newspaper Co., decided in 1909 by the U. S. Supreme Court through Justice Day, wherein an artist failed to protect himself against an infringing reproduction, because he brought suit under a "second copyright which he had entered on finishing his picture, instead of under the original and lawful copyright, under which he had originally entered his work. The fact that by this second copyrighting he laid claim to a longer term than the law allowed, made the second copyright void and a suit under it of no avail. Under the new law the author of a work of art is not only given specifically the exclusive right "to complete, execute, and finish it if it be a model or design for a work of art" as in the previous law, so that an artistic work is protected by one copyright from design to completion and reproduction; but he may also protect his original work during its progress or exhibition before publication and thus safeguard his future right to control and benefit from the multiplication of copies.
In case of the sale of the original work of art, the right to exhibit, of course, passes with the original, Exhibition
right transferalthough the right to copyright and reproduce copies is expressly reserved to the artist. In view of the uncertainty whether the unrestricted public exhibition of a work of art constitutes dedication and prevents copyright thereof, the carelessness of the purchaser of the original might raise question as to the validity of
