Norway, by a law of 1893, gives protection for author’s life
and 50 years after.
Portugal.—Author’s life and 50 years after.
Russia.—Author’s life and 50 years.
Spain.—Author’s life and 80 years thereafter.
Sweden and Denmark provide for a term of the author’s lifetime and 50 years after.
Switzerland.—Author’s life and 30 years after.
Turkey.—Author’s life, or 40 years, whichever is the longer.
17. United States.—American copyright is provided for by an act of March 1909, which replaced acts of July 1870 and March 1891, both of which had introduced important modifications in the original act of 1790. Under all American law. acts preceding that of 1891, copyright had been granted to “citizens or residents of the United States,” the term “resident” having been, in decisions prior to 1891, construed to mean a person domiciled in the United States with the intention of making there his permanent abode. The works of foreigners could thus be reproduced without authorization, and they were so reproduced in so far as there was prospect of financial gain. The leading publishers, however, had from the earliest times made terms with British authors, or with their representatives, the British publishers, for producing authorized American editions. But at most they were only able to secure by this means an advantage of a few weeks’ priority over the unauthorized editions, and the good-will of the conscientious buyer; so that if they paid the author any considerable sum, the price of the authorized editions had to be made so high that it was not easy to secure a remunerative sale. The unauthorized editions had the further advantage in competition, that for the purpose of being manufactured more promptly and more economically, they could be and often were issued in an abbreviated and garbled form, an injury which to not a few writers seemed more grievous than the lack of pecuniary profit. In Great Britain, during the first half of the 19th century, the copyright law had been so interpreted as to secure recognition of the rights of American authors for such works as were produced there not later than in any other country, so that authors like Washington Irving and Fenimore Cooper secured for a time satisfactory returns; but after 1850 the conditions became the same as in the United States. Unauthorized editions were published, and were often incomplete and garbled.
As from decade to decade the books produced on either side of the Atlantic, which possessed interest for readers of the other side, increased in quantity and in importance, the evil of these unrestricted piracies increased. The injury to British authors was greater only in proportion as the English books were more numerous. The pressure from Great Britain during the last half of the 19th century for international copyright was continuous; and in America it was recognized by authors, by representative publishers, and by the more intelligent people everywhere, that the existing conditions were of material disadvantage. The loss to American authors was direct; and the loss to legitimate American publishers was also clear, in that better returns could be secured by adequate payments for rights that could be protected by law than by “courtesy” payments for authorizations that carried no legal rights. An injury was being done to American literature; for, when authorized editions of American works had to compete against unauthorized and more cheaply produced editions of English works, the business incentive for literary production was seriously lessened. In fiction particularly, authors had to contend against a flood of cheaply produced editions of “appropriated” English books. Equally to be condemned were the ethics of a relation under which one class of property could be appropriated while other classes secured legal protection. On these several grounds efforts had long been made to secure international copyright. Between 1843 and 1886 no less than eleven international copyright bills were drafted, for the most part at the instance of the copyright associations or copyright leagues. They were one after the other killed in committee. In 1886 the twelfth international copyright bill was brought before the Senate by Senator Jonathan Chace of Rhode Island, and was referred to the committee on patents. In 1887 the American Publishers’ Copyright League (succeeding the earlier American Publishers’ Association) was organized, with William H. Appleton as president and G. H. Putnam as secretary. The executive committee of this league formed, with a similar committee of the Author’s Copyright League, a conference committee, under the direction of which the campaign for copyright was continued until the passage of the act of March 1891. Of the Authors’ Copyright League James Russell Lowell was the first president, being succeeded by Edmund Clarence Stedman. The secretary during the active work of the league was Robert U. Johnson. Under the initiative of the conference committee copyright leagues were organized in Boston, Chicago, St Louis, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Denver, Colorado City and other places. The Chace Bill was introduced in the House in March 1888. In May 1890 this bill, with certain modifications, came before the House, and was there defeated. In March 1891 the same measure, with certain further modifications, secured a favourable vote in the House during the last hour of the last day of the session, was passed by the Senate, and was promptly signed by President Harrison. Thus, after a struggle extending over fifty-three years, the United States accepted the principle at all events of international copyright.
18. The act of 1891 was criticized in several respects: (1) A condition was that books or works of art must be “manufactured” in America; consideration not being given to books originally produced in some language other than English. (2) It required publication in the United States simultaneously with that in the country of origin. (3) The term of copyright (28 years, with an extension of 14 years to the author if alive, or to widow or children) was shorter than that accorded under the law of any other literature-producing country, excepting Greece. Minor amending acts were passed in 1893, 1895 and 1897, that of Feb. 19, 1897, establishing as the copyright department of the library of Congress a Bureau of Copyrights, the head of which bears the title of Register of Copyrights. Eventually, after hard Provisions of Act of 1909.work by the American Authors’ Copyright League and the Publishers’ Copyright League, and after sittings extending to a period of three years, a new bill submitted to Congress by the two Committees on Patents of the House of Representatives and the Senate was successfully passed. It came into force on the 1st of July 1909. Its provisions may be briefly summarized as follows:—
Copyright is granted to authors for twenty-eight years from the date of first publication, whether the copyrighted work bears the author’s true name or is published anonymously or under an assumed name. A further term of twenty-eight years Term of copyright. is granted to the author if at the expiration of the first term he be still living, or to his widow and children if he be dead. If the author’s widow and children be dead an extension is granted to the author’s executors, or in the absence of a will, to his next of kin. Applications for renewal and extension must be made to the copyright office and duly registered therein within one year prior to the expiration of the existing term. To any work in which copyright subsists at the time the act went into force the act extends renewal for a period of twenty-eight years at the expiration of the time provided for under the previously existing law (first period 28 years, renewal period 14 years). The works for which copyright may be secured under the act “Shall include all the writings of an author.” For purposes of registration the act classifies (1) books, Definition of copyright.including composite and cyclopaedic works, directories, gazetteers and other compilations; (2) periodicals, including newspapers; (3) lectures, sermons, addresses, prepared for oral delivery; (4) dramatic or dramatico-musical compositions; (5) musical compositions; (6) maps; (7) works of art; models or designs for works of art; (8) reproductions of a work of art; (9) drawings or plastic works of a scientific or technical character; (10) photographs and (11) prints and pictorial illustrations. But compilations or abridgments, adaptations, arrangements, dramatizations, translations or other versions of copyrighted works, when produced with the consent of the proprietors of the copyrighted work are, under the 1909 act, new works subject to copyright. A citizen or subject of a foreign state can secure copyright only when he is domiciled within the United States at the time of the first publication of his work, or when the foreign state or nation of which he is a subject grants, either by treaty, convention, agreement or law, to citizens of the United States the benefit of
