1 NOTE 8-Continued. The protection afforded an author, his heirs and assigns, by the act of January 7, 1904, is "the sole liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, copying, and vending" the copyrighted article "within the limits of the United States" for the term provided for in said act. This language is plain and unambiguous, and there would be 5 no occasion for the inquiry of the German ambassador but for the further provision in the act that, except in so far as it authorizes and provides for temporary copyright protection, it shall not be construed or held to in any manner affect or repeal any of the provisions of the statutes relating to copyrights. Therefore, construction becomes necessary in order to determine whether there are inconsistencies between this latter 10 and former statutes respecting importations, and, being in pari materia, they are to be construed together. The cardinal rule of all statutory construction is that the meaning and intention of the legislature are to be sought for, and supposed repugnances must be reconciled, if possible, to effectuate that meaning and intention. We then proceed to determine 15 what is meant by the term "copyright protection." The statute itself (act of January 7, 1904) defines it as "the sole liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, copying, and vending" the copyrighted article, and it is so denominated in all the laws. "Copyright under the statutes is an exclusive right to publish a literary or artistic work." Pierce & Bushnell Manufacturing Company v. Werckmeister (72 Fed. Rep., 2054). Copyright protection, then, is the exclusive right to produce, reproduce, and vend the copyrighted article. But, while the latter statute grants copyright protection in the United States on books, chromos, lithographs, and photographs produced or manufactured abroad, there exists a prior statute (section 4956, supra) which requires the production or manufacture of the articles in the United States as a con25 dition precedent to obtaining a valid copyright, and which also prohibits importation of such articles not so produced or manufactured. Does the later act suspend operation of section 4956 (ante) with respect to importation during the temporary copyright protection, or is the provision in said act, to the effect that former statutes relating to copyrights are not repealed or affected, to operate so as to deprive the 30 proprietor of the copyright of the very essence of the protection granted, viz, free and unhampered importations? Is it within the spirit and reason of the law that the rights granted thereby shall by a further provision in the same law be rendered, in effect, null and void? Such a course would be an absurdity, and it is a rule of construction that it is to be presumed the legislature does not intend an absurdity, 35 or that absurd consequences shall flow from its enactments. The mind of the legislature is presumed to be consistent and every statute is understood to contain, by implication, if not by its express terms, all such provisions as may be necessary to effectuate its object and purpose, or to make effective the rights which it grants. Examining the subject, then, in the light of such facts and principles, it is evident 40 to me that it was the intention of the Congress to suspend the operation of all statutes (including section 4956, as amended) inconsistent with the act of January 7, 1904, during the period of the temporary copyright protection therein granted. 45 50 The inquiry of the German ambassador is, therefore, answered in the affirmative. The SECRETARY OF STATE. LESLIE M. SHAW, Secretary. From "Treasury Decisions." Vol. 7, 8vo. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1904, pp. 407-410. Memorandum from the Register of Copyrights to the Librarian of Congress. The Assistant Secretary of State transmits an inquiry from the German ambassador as to whether the act of January 7, 1904, to afford protection to exhibitors of foreign NOTE 8-Continued. literary, artistic, or musical works at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition "also 1 removes the interdiction of importation," and whether under this act such works may be imported into the United States during the interim term of protection, of two years from the date of registration in the Copyright Office. The question of importation under the copyright laws must be concerned either 5 with (a) the importation of copies of the authorized editions of the works claiming copyright protection; or (b) the importation of copies of unauthorized, illicit reproductions of such works. The prohibition of importation of illicit reproductions is essential to copyright protection, and is provided for in the United States laws by section 4964 of the Revised 10 Statutes, as amended by the act of March 3, 1891, and by section 4965, of the Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of March 2, 1895. The provisions of these two sections are undoubtedly applicable to all articles registered for copyright protection as well under the act of January 7, 1904, as under all previous acts, section 8 of the act of January 7, 1904, providing "that, except in so far as this act authorizes and pro- 15 vides for temporary copyright protection during the period and for the purposes herein provided for, it shall not be construed or held to in any manner affect or repeal any of the provisions of the Revised Statutes relating to copyrights and the acts amendatory thereof." It is probable, however, that the German ambassador had in mind only the ques- 20 tion of the importation of copies of the authorized editions of articles actually exhibited at St. Louis in 1904, and registered under the act of January 7, 1904. In relation thereto, I beg to submit for consideration the following: 1. In the title and first section of the act it is made clear that its provisions relate exclusively to literary, artistic, or musical works produced abroad. 2. The purpose of the act is to grant to the authors of such foreign works, their heirs and assigns, "the sole liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, copying, and vending the same within the limits of the United States." (Section 1.) 25 3. The articles to be protected under this act are as follows: Group A. Original works of the fine arts (paintings, drawings, statues, or statuary), maps, charts, 30 dramas, music, engravings, cuts, and prints. Group B. Books, chromos, lithographs, and photographs. 4. So far as the articles in Group A are concerned, there are no provisions in any of the United States copyright laws in force to require their manufacture in the United States or to prohibit the importation of any copies, except copies of unauthor- 35 ized reproductions. (Sections 4964 and 4965 of the Revised Statutes.) 5. In the case of the four articles in Group B, however, the act of March 3, 1891, section 3, provides that in the case of a book, photograph, chromo, or lithograph, the copies "shall be printed from type set within the limits of the United States, or from plates made therefrom, or from negatives or drawings on stone made within 40 the limits of the United States, or from transfers made therefrom;" and the same section further provides that the importation into the United States of copies not thus produced is prohibited during the existence of the copyright. 6. This prohibition of importation follows the proviso to section 4956 of the Revised Statutes enacted by the act of March 3, 1891, requiring the manufacture of the four 45 articles in the United States, and was clearly added to make the American manufacture clause effective. Had there been no stipulation requiring type-setting, etc., in the United States, there would have been no need for the prohibition of importation of copies not made from type set within the United States, etc., and if the requirement of American manufacture is omitted, the prohibition of importation and the 50) exceptions to such prohibition are uncalled for, and hence are null and void. 31408-06-10 NOTE 8-Continued. 1 Obviously, therefore, there can be no question of the right of importation of authorized copies of the articles in Group A, as prohibition of such importation would render entirely nugatory the privileges and protection expressly intended to be secured to the foreign authors and artists of such articles by the act of March 3, 5 1891; and the only question, therefore, is whether the four articles in Group B, viz, books, chromos, lithographs, and photographs, when registered in the Copyright Office as exhibits to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, can be imported without hindrance during the two years' period of protection provided by the act. The act makes it very clear that this term of protection is not dependent upon the 10 manufacture of the articles in the United States, section 6 of the act expressly providing for an extension of the term of protection to "the full terms provided for in Title LX, chapter 3, of the Revised Statutes" if at any time during this period of two years, copies of the original text in the case of a book, or of a translation of it in English, are printed from type set within the United States or from plates made therefrom;. 15 while in the case of photographs, chromos, or lithographs, if copies shall be produced printed from negatives, or drawings on stone made within the United States, or from transfers made therefrom. The matter may therefore be summarized as follows: 1. The articles in question are foreign productions; 2. The sole right of vending 20 them in the United States is granted for two years from date of registration in the Copyright Office; 3. The manufacture of the articles in the United States is not required; 4. The prohibition of importation in the act of March 3, 1891, is incidental to the requirement of American manufacture in section 3 of the same act. This prohibition of importation, therefore, does not apply to the articles named 25 in section 1 of the act of January 7, 1904, which grants interim copyright protection for the term of two years, these articles not being required to be manufactured in the United States, and the whole purport of the act being to secure to the copyright proprietor protection and unhindered sale in the United States for the articles exhibited. 30 Respectfully, THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS. THORVALD SOLBERG, Register of Copyrights |