ARGUMENTS
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON PATENTS
OF THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
CONJOINTLY WITH THE SENATE COMMITTEE
ON PATENTS,
ON
H.R. 19853,
TO AMEND AND CONSOLIDATE THE ACTS
RESPECTING COPYRIGHT.
JUNE 6, 7, 8, AND 9, 1906.
COMMITTEE ON PATENTS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
FIFTY-NINTH CONGRESS.
| FRANK D. CURRIER, New Hampshire, Chairman. | |
| SOLOMON R. DRESSER, Pennsylvania. | CHARLES McGAVIN, Illinois. |
| JOSEPH M. DIXON, Montana. | WILLIAM SULZER, New York. |
| EDWARD H. HINSHAW, Nebraska. | GEORGE S. LEGARE, South Carolina. |
| ROBERT W. BONYNGE, Colorado. | EDWIN Y. WEBB, North Carolina. |
| WILLIAM W. CAMPBELL, Ohio. | ROBERT G. SOUTHALL, Virginia. |
| ANDREW J. BARCHFELD, Pennsylvania. | JOHN GILL, Jr., Maryland. |
| JOHN C. CHANEY, Indiana. | |
| Edward A. Barney, Clerk. | |
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1906.
ARGUMENTS ON H.R. 19853, TO AMEND AND CONSOLIDATE
THE ACTS RESPECTINGCOPYRIGHT.
Committee on Patents,
House of Representatives,
Wednesday, June 6, 1906.
The committee met at 10 o'clock a.m.; at the Senate reading room,Library of Congress, conjointly with the Senate Committee on Patents.
Present, Senators Kittredge (chairman), Clapp, Smoot, Foster, andLatimer; Representatives Currier (chairman), Bonynge, Campbell, Chaney,McGavin, Sulzer, and Webb.
The Chairman. We are met to consider Senate bill 6330,relative to the copyright law. We would like to hear first from Mr.Putnam regarding the history of the proposed legislation.
STATEMENT OF HERBERT PUTNAM, ESQ., LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS.
Mr. Putnam. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, theorigin of this bill is indicated in the message of the President toCongress last December. The passage is brief; let me read it:
Our copyright laws urgently need revision. They are imperfect indefinition, confused and inconsistent in expression; they omitprovision for many articles which, under modern reproductiveprocesses, are entitled to protection; they impose hardships uponthe copyright proprietor which are not essential to the fairprotection of the public; they are difficult for the courts tointerpret and impossible for the copyright office to administerwith satisfaction to the public. Attempts to improve them byamendment have been frequent, no less than twelve a