New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-06-28
COPYRIGHT AmEYDMENr.

Thorough and able Examination recently
made by Royal Commissioners into the prac-
teal working and defects of the English
Copyright Law, has induced them 10 make
several proposals of amendment which are
very well worthy of attention in this country.
In one respect our law Is in better condition
than the English it has recently been revised
and reGnacted in one chapter of the Revised
Statutes, while in England the subject is said
10 be governed by as many as fourteen acts
Of Parliament, running back some Of them
$50 years, and very confused and inconsistent
in their provisions. But many of the Dracti-
cal defects pointed out by the commits
sioners exist in our better arranged system.
The subjects of Transitions and dramatiza-
tons, which are mentioned as being involved
in much obscurity under English law, are rea-
sOnably well covered in this country by a
comparatively recent enactment that authors
may reserve the right TO dramatic or to
translate their own works. But abridgments
are as vaguely regulated by our copyright
law as they appear TO be by the English. Our
statute is silent. 1t gives the author the sole
liberty of printing, publishing, copying and
vending his work, but does not declare that
he shall have the sole liberty Of prcpar-
ing any abridgment that may DO called
for. On this omission the courts have
founded q theory that fair abrdg-
"ment" is not piracy. Judge StOry's Com
"mentaries on Equity Jurisprudence" were
abridged by Mr.. HOlcOmb, and Judge Me
Lean enjoined the first portion of HolcOmb's
book upon the ground that he had taken too
much from Story for fair abridgment, while
he let the rest of the book go free, consider
ing that in that the abndger had not gone
too far. Judge Mclean doubted the Justice
of allowing any right Of abridgment and
spoke strongly of the great difficulty of de-
cIdng what is fair abridgment, for want
of any legal standard But he could not help,
under the authorities, cOnceding Holcomb's
liberty to abridge TO a certain extent; espe-
cially as Judge Story himself had decided the
same doctrine, few years earlier, in
case of republication of parts of
Sparks's "Life of Washington" These defects
in the law are quite as grave in this country
as in England. The law should declare
whether any one may publish fair abrdg-
ment, and, if So prescribe some guide for de-
Gliding what is fair one.
Newspapers and articles in newspapers are
mentioned by the Royal Commissioners as
deserving more distinct copyright protection
than they enjoy. The law is equally defec-
tive here and in England. Newspapers are not
mentioned; if they can be copyrighted at all,
1t must be done under the privilege Of copy
righting "a book" 1t is disputed in the de-
cisions whether newspaper can be called a
book, and whether the requirement of
the law that the entry of the copy
right shall be stated on the "tltle-
"page" can be deemed applicable TO a
newspaper. Years ago, perhaps because
newspaper literary work was then more
ephemeral in character and value than it is
now, the decisions tended TO exclude newspa-
pers from the benefit of the law. More lately
they have been recognized, even n loose
sheet, folded within newspaper, containing
diagrams Of patterns for cutting out clothing,
such as are commonly furnished by the fash
ion papers, has been held, IN the United
States Court in Ohio, TO be "book" which
may be copyrighted But Che point is doubt
full. And single articles In newspapers arc
even more difficult to bring within our pres