The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-02-25

with satisfied air. saying to himself,
Nov let anyone steal my play. 1t ls
! copyrighted, and the United States gov
ernment will protect me against any
infringement.
In due time, Emerson smith-Jones re
ceivcs neatly printed card notifying
him that the registrar Of copyrights has
| received his manuscript. entitled "a
Bird in the Hand, - and that certificate
OF copyright No. 1895, class ID, has
been issued to him, certifying TO the
| deposit in the library archives OF one
| typewritten manuscript of said play, on
such and such a date, according To
| law.
Apparently this is final and absolute,
as the copyright statutes give an au-
thor of dramatic or musical compost
tion exclusive rights for period OF
twenty eight years, with a further e1-
tepsion Of fourteen wears, If applied for
at the end of the original period.
Mr.. Emerson Smith.Jones congratu-
Istes himself upon his happy selection
Of the title, "a Bird IN the Hand,
and undertakes TO sell his play. 'Ulti.
nlately il comes back 10 him from for
ty.two managers and is laid away IN
| his desk, ears afterward he picks
up some theatrical publication, and
reads that Charles Frohman or klaw
& Erlsnger propose to produce q play
called "a Bird in the Hand by Au-
gustus Thomas or Eugene Walter.
Emerson Smith-Jones vigorously pro
tests He has copyrighted the title, he
asserts and his lawyer writes threat
ening letters Of the fearful facts that
follow infringement Emerson Smith
Jones wakes UP when he receives g.
little light on what constitutes copy
right. according to our laws.
1.-The copyright Office is mere Of
fee of rccord'' perhaps Mr.. Solberg
will write, as he has so often explained
verbally to anxious authors. ''Phe cer-
tificate issued simply states that there
has been received for entry and deposit
IA certain manuscript, with such and
snch title. There is nothing in the
copyright laws to prohibit us from re-
ceivinc ffty manuscripts with exactly
similar titles As fnr as we know, the
material Of these fifty plays with the
same title may be the same, or 1t may
be different The duty Of the Librarian
of congress is TO receive all manuscripts
accompanied by the necessary legal
fees, enter them according to certain
forms, and acknowledge the receipt
by issuing certificate of copyright.
IL is not only possible to issue nifty
certificates for manuscripts with SINH
lar titles, but cases have actually been
called 60 the librarian q attention
where perhaps q dozen titles have been
recorded, all the same. for manuscripts
which had no bearing whatever upon
each other, and no features OF resen-
blance
seThe important point is that the
copyright law grants protection to the
material. that is, ths dialogue and sto-
~, while no reference is made TO the
titles.
Furthermore, any case Of infringe.
ment can not concern the library OF
congress. All disputes must be settled
in court. where the copyright laws must
; be interpreted by the legal authorities:
This matter of titles is most prolific OF
!. promised lawsuits, which, of course,
never materialize when the authors
learn the real law on the subject"
Even large publishing houses oeea'
sionally fall into error. A case IN
; point which apparently presented ne"
question, arose when a New York man
ager announced that he intended TO pro,
duce play called "The Worldlings:
One Of the big publishing firms had 1s-
! sued novel called " Worldlings,"
book which had not attained very great
success, and concerning which the au'
, thor of the drama knew nothing at all.
| The publishing firm threatened suit on
; the ground that the title of the book
had been appropriated Tor the pay,
the public into the belief that the play
was dramatization of the novel. AS
matter of fact, there was no actual
resemblance between the two stories
and when 'FThs Worldlings' proved
a failure nothing more was heard or
the suit
To avoid litigation many managers
often change the titles slightly. One
manager produced n play called 'Told
in the Hills but when he learned
that this was the title of a novel, he
changed his play to Sc As Told in the
Hills'' Because 'Fhe Wlfe had been
used years ago, Eugene Walter changed
the title to a recent play to S'Just a
| Wife,
plaved farce called "Tbe Circus
/ Girl and a music publishing house
spent lot of money frightening man
ayers By dire threats because they were
| using the titlo of DAILY musical com
cdy of fifteen years ago, One man
ager actually changed the title to '.The
Girl From the Circus to avoid a
threatened suit,
You can protect title under certain
conditions by bringing snt in equity
alleging that other parties are en-,
deavoring To impose upon the public
by false pretenses, and that the use
of the title is intended to mislead the
public into the belief that 1T IS getting
| the original and not the imitation.
Here it is within the discretion of the
trial nudge to decide whether OF not
YOU have advertised q certain article
sufficiently long 10 give You common
rights, and whether or not the alleged
appropriation Of your title is made with
an attempt TO deceive and mislead. In
such n case an injunction preventing
such imposture could be issued, but the
plaintiff would have no ground for H.
| pancial damages.
To illustrate: Suppose Klaw Er-
LANCER produce 'FThe Pink Lady on
certain night. Suppose a rival man,
ager produces another play, mus1cai
| or dramatic. entitled "The Pink
Lady. - at approximately the same time,
in thsster right across the street from
tho Klaw e Erlanger Pink Lady
The Klaw & Erlanger forces might a.p-
plv fors an injunction to prevent the
| 81 hcr pink I.adEn from hsing used.