The Washington critic., 1888-02-25


and 10 secure the sole right ef pub
fishing the matter or multiplying cop
les OF the original, and this Is the for
warding Of two copies Of the literary
work or two photographs Of the work
OF art tothe Librarian within ten days
after publication.
10 perfect copyrghto of story
that is printed seriolly, as in q maya
zinc, two copies of each publication
must be sent to the Librarian, and
when the matter is brought oul an
book form two copies OF this pvblios-
ton must also be forwarded. A fail
ufe to send these copies may not de
siroy the copyright, but it certainly
lays the owner liable TO S2j.Gue,
The copies received in this manner
are preserved by the Goyernmem,
the worthy and the unworthy With
equal care. Even the newspapers
and the almanacs must be kept
NEWSPAPER CoPYRIGHrs.
II is the fashion just now TO copy
right newspaper articles, generally
cable dispatches. This is done by
mailing the headlines as soon as the
proof can be got and inclosing the DO
cent fee. A title or headline de-
posted in the mail minute before
publication, and the burden OF proof
is on the person who says it was not.
Deposited at the proper time the
article becomes q copyrighted "boOk."
The term book" covers all printed
matter from n big volume Of history
TO the tiniest leaflet, and of course
includes newspaper article, II any
rival paper should "copy" the copy
righted cable without the owners
permission in writing, and signed
in the presence OF two or more
witnesses, the owner of the copy
| right could 60 into court and cause to
be forfeited to him every copy 50
made, and would also be entitled TO
| whatever damages he could recover in
q civil action against the offender.
The same course could be pursued
against any newsdealer who, know
ing that the rival paper had stolen a
copyrighted article, should expose for
| sale any fraudulent copies Of il.
| Newspapers are the latest subjects Of
registration, and the courts have
never been called on to deal with
violation of such q copyright. They
are treated, however, as bound book .
is treated.
The Government, Of course, never
prosecutes an infringement. II does
nothing more for the owner OF the
copyright than to record his work and
TO provide this proof of his rights.
VIOLATIONS OF COPYRIGHTS.
II has always been an interesting
question for the courts to decide what
constitutes an unlawful copy" of Il
copyrighted book. 1t has generally
been held that any substantial change
| from the original is allowable, and
may be copyrighted as safely as IL
similar publication had never been re-
corded. The substitution of one word
for another sometimes works sub
stantial change in the productions A
copyrighted poem by Sir Walter Scott
was once copyrighted by another, who
changed only word in q single
stanaa. Scott wrote:
Were Glenallan's Earl TO tide
And ye were Roland Cheyne,
The spear should be In my borses's side,
And the bridle upon his name.
A man struck out spear from those
lines and wrote spur in its place.
Lord peas decided that this was q
substantial change and that the de-
fendant was entitled to new copy
right.
The copyright covers everything
in book.
A violation of the copyright on
things other than books works the for
feiture of the machin,sv of produc-
ton, and all the fraudulent copies, as
we'll as 81 for every copy found in the
possession of the maker or the ven
der. In the case of paintings and
statuary the forfeit is $40. Halls
these forfeitures go TO the owner of
the violated copyrigh1end the other
half to the Government. Any one
publicly performing a copyrighted
drama without due authority is liable
20 damages, amounting TO not less
than 500 for the first and $50 for all
succeeding performances.
Copyrights are void after limited
number of years. In the United
States the Law he's been for 81 yesr,
that q copyright should run 2S years.
Within six months before the eNpipa-
ton of that time the author or de
signer or his widow or children may
secure another copyright for IA years.
This makes total of AZ years but for
publishers and purchasers the copy
right lasts only 2S years.
1t is now 81 years since Congress
was first asked to protect foreign au-
thors. The petition came from Eng
lishmen, and was presented by Henry
, Clay. The appeal has often been re-
peated since then by our own authors,
, but the legislators have never been
moved to do anything in the matter.
Over 10000 copyrights are issued by
/ the librarian every year. One third
! Of them being for books. fifth for
: periodicals, and another fifth for mu-
, steal compositions.