ACT OF 1802, CHAP. 36, §§ 3, 4. OBSOLETE. and every sheet or sheets (being part of or whereon such print or prints are or shall be copied or printed) to the proprietor or proprietors of such original print or prints, who shall forthwith destroy the same; and further, that every such offender or offenders shall forfeit one dollar for every print which shall be found in his, her, or their custody; either printed, published, or exposed to sale, or otherwise disposed of, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, the one moiety thereof to any person who shall sue for the same, and the other moiety thereof to and for the use of the United States, to be recovered in any court having competent jurisdiction thereof. SECTION 4. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons, from and after the passing of this act, shall print or publish any map, chart, book or books, print or prints, who have not legally acquired the copyright of such map, chart, book or books, print or prints, and shall, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, insert therein or impress thereon that the same has been entered according to act of Congress, or words purporting the same, or purporting that the copyright thereof has been acquired; every person so offending shall forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred dollars, one moiety thereof to the person who shall sue for the same, and the other moiety thereof to and for the use of the United States, to be recovered by action of debt in any court of record in the United States, having cognizance thereof. Provided always, that in every case for forfeitures hereinbefore given, the action be commenced within two years from the time the cause of action may have arisen. Approved April 29th, 1802. IN FORCE. ACT OF 1819, CHAP. 19. ACT OF 1819, CHAPTER 19. 8 STATUTES AT LARGE, 481 [This Act still in Force.] An act to extend the jurisdiction of the Circuit Courts of the United States to cases arising under the law relating to patents [and copyrights]. Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the Circuit Courts of the United States shall have original cognizance, as well in equity as at law, of all actions, suits, controversies, and cases, arising under any law of the United States, granting or confirming to authors or inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings, inventions, and discoveries; and upon any bill in equity, filed by any party aggrieved in any such cases, shall have authority to grant injunc tions, according to the course and principles of courts of equity, to prevent the violation of the rights of any authors or inventors, secured to them by any laws of the United States, on such terms and conditions as the said courts may deem fit and reasonable (a); Provided, however, That from all judgments and decrees of any Circuit Courts, rendered in the premises, a writ of error or appeal, as the case may require, shall lie to the Supreme Court of the United States, in the same manner, and under the same circumstances, as is now provided by law in other judgments and decrees of such Circuit Courts. (b) (a) 1. The act of 1819, so far as it gave cognizance to the courts of ACT OF 1819, CHAP. 19. IN FORCE. the United States in cases of copyrights, still remains in force, and is the only law conferring equitable jurisdiction on these courts in such cases; the ninth section of the act of 1831 protects manuscripts only. Stephens v. Gladding, 17 How.. 455.-CURTIS, J.; Sup. Ct., 1854. 2. The equity jurisdiction of such courts, as to copyrights, does not, extend to the adjudication of forfeitures: a decree, therefore, cannc be entered for the penalties incurred for a violation of a copyright. Ibid., 455. 3. Under the acts of 1790 and 1819, as to patents and copyrights the owners of copyrights and patents do not have redress or relief ir any cases where they could not before have had relief in some court, either of equity or law. Pierpont v. Fowle, 2 Wood. & Min., 27.WOODBURY, J.; Mass., 1846. 4. These acts merely enable them to prosecute such claims in the Circuit Court of the United States, as they usually had done before, but without going to the State tribunals; the public interest required a uniform construction to be placed by one tribunal on all important questions connected with rights so held. Ibid., 27. 5. The jurisdiction of the Federal courts, under the acts of Congress respecting copyrights, has not taken away or diminished the original jurisdiction, which, before such acts, the State courts exercised-except where the jurisdiction was made exclusive in express terms, or by the necessary construction of the Federal Constitution. Woolsey v. Judd, 4 Duer, 382.-DUER, J.; N. Y., 1855. 6. Under the act of Congress, giving to the Circuit Courts cognizance of cases arising under the laws of the United States, granting to authors the exclusive right to their writings, the citizenship of the parties litigant is immaterial. Keene v. Wheatley, 9 Amer. Law Reg., 44, 45.— CADWALLADER, J.; Pa., 1860. 7. The act of 1819 concerns remedies, and not rights. Ibid., 45. 8. Where a wrong has been committed in respect to a literary work, but the bill does not ask for an injunction to protect the common law rights of the author, or the violation of any copyright secured, but only asks an account, redress cannot be sought in a court of equity, but the party must proceed at law for damages. Monk v. Harper, 3 Edw. Ch., 110, 111.-McCOUN, V. Chan.; N. Y., 1837. See also DIGEST PAT. CASES, titles ACTIONS, A; EQUITY, A. (b) A writ of error, or appeal, as the case may require, now lies to the Supreme Court, from all judgments or decrees of any Circuit Court, rendered in any action, at law or in equity, arising under any of the Laws as to copyrights. Act of 1861, chap. 37. 2 IN FORCE. ACT OF 1831, CHAP. 16, § 1. ACT OF 1831, CHAPTER 16. 4 STATUTES At Large, 436. [This Act still in Force.] An Act to amend the several acts respecting copyrights. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passing of this act, any person or persons, being a citizen or citizens of the United States, or resident therein, who shall be the author or authors of any book or books, map, chart, or musical composition, which may be now made or composed, and not printed and published, or shall hereafter be made or composed, or who shall invent, design, etch, engrave, work, or cause to be engraved, etched, or worked from his own design, any print or engraving, and the executors, administrators, or legal assigns of such person or persons (a), shall have the sole right and liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, and vending (6) such book or books, map, chart, musical composition, print, cut, or engraving, in whole or in part, for the term of twenty-eight years from the time of recording the title thereof, in the manner hereinafter directed. (c) (a) WHO MAY HAVE, AND WHAT SUBJECT OF COPYRIGHT. A per 1. Under this act a person, to be a "resident" so as to be entitled to a copyright, must be a permanent resident of the country. son temporarily residing here, even though he has declared his intention of becoming a citizen, cannot take or hold a copyright. Collier, 56 Niles's Reg., 262.-BETTS, J.; N. Y., 1839. Carey ▾ 2. The legal assignee of the author may take out the copyright, and it will make no difference whether he holds it as trustee for the benefit ACT OF 1831, CHAP. 16, § 1. IN FORCE. of another or not. Little v. Gould, 2 Blatchf., 366.-NELSON, J.; N. Y., 1852. 3. Under this act no person can obtain a copyright except authors who are citizens or residents of the United States, and proprietors un der derivations of title from such authors. Keene v. Wheatley, 9 Amer. Law Reg., 45.-CADWALLADER, J.; Pa, 1860. 4. The assignee of a work composed by a non-resident alien cannot obtain a copyright for it. Ibid., 45. 5. To constitute one an author, he must, by his own intellectual labor applied to the materials of his composition, produce an arrangement or compilation new in itself. Atwill v. Ferrett, 2 Blatchf., 46.— BETTS, J.; N. Y., 1846. 6. One who gets others to compile a work or engrave a print is not entitled to a copyright. Pierpont v. Fowle, 2 Wood. & Min., 46.—WOODBURY, J.; Mass., 1846. Atwill v. Ferrett, 2 Blatchf., 46.-BETTS, J.; N. Y., 1846. De Witt v. Brooks, MS.---NELSON, J.; N. Y., 1861. 7. A book, within the statute, need not be a volume made up of many sheets bound together; it may be a single sheet, as the words of a song, or the music accompanying it. Clayton v. Stone, 2 Paine, 383, 391-THOMPSON, J.; N. Y., 1828. 8. A newspaper or price current cannot be the sense and meaning of the act of Congress. 9. A label used in the sale of any article is not a book, within the provisions of the statute respecting copyrights. Coffeen v. Brunton, 4 McLean, 517.-MCLEAN, J.; Ind., 1849. considered a book within Ibid., 385. 10. The natural objects from which maps and charts are made are open to all, and therefore a copyright cannot subsist in a chart, as a general subject, but may in an individual work, and others may be restrained from copying it. Blunt v. Patten, 2 Paine, 400, 401.-THOMPSON, J.; N. Y., 1828. 11. A man has a right to a copyright of a map of a State or country which he has surveyed, or caused to be compiled from existing materials, at his own expense, or skill, or labor, or money. Emerson v. Davies, 3 Story, 781.-STORY, J.; Mass., 1845. 12. Another may publish another map of the same State or country, but cannot take it substantially and designedly from the map of the other person, without any such exercise of skill, labor, or expense. Ibid., 781. 13. The author or compiler of a musical composition, made up of different parts copied from older compositions, without material change, and put together into one tune with only slight alterations or additions, is not entitled to a copyright for such therefor. Reed v. Carusi, 8 Law Rep., 411.-TANEY, Ch. J.; Md., 1845. 14. But the circumstances of its corresponding with older musical compositions, and belonging to the same style of music, does not constitute it a plagiarism, provided it is, in its main design and in its material and important parts, the effort of his own mind. Ibid., 411. |