Copyright, Its History and Its Law/Chapter 23
XXIII
The Literature of Copyright
Bibliographical materials The literature of copyright is extensive and its bibliography would now make a volume in itself. The bibliography of literary property prepared by Thorvald Solberg, now Register of Copyrights, for the Bowker-Solberg volume of 1886, occupying sixty pages, covered approximately fifteen hundred titles, besides analytical indexes to several periodicals. The bibliography to the present date, inclusive of that material, which Register Solberg has continued, would increase this record at least twofold. The copyright campaign resulting in the code of 1909 was especially prolific of drafts and bills. Congressional and other reports and private publications, of which "dry as dust" indication is given in the earlier chapter containing the record of that campaign. Nothing more can be attempted in this chapter than a brief glance over historical material and leading works.
Early history The early history of copyright is to be traced only through incidental references in classical and medieval works. Among these may be instanced Montalembert's "Monks of the West" and Brown's "History of the printing press in Venice," previously cited. George Haven Putnam's work on "Books and their makers in the Middle Ages" (New York, Putnams, 1896–97, 8vo, 2 v., 459, 538 p.), though dealing chiefly with publishing relations, incidentally gives much information on the early history of printing privileges and copyrights proper. Several of the law book writers, notably Copinger, summarize in some measure the early history of copyright.
Early American contributions Perhaps the earliest American publication distinctively on copyright was the "Remarks on literary property," by Philip H. Nicklin, in 1838, in which he included as an appendix a reprint of Joseph Lowe's summary of copyright history and practice up to 1819, from the Encyclopaedia Britannica supplement, and argued for longer, if not perpetual copyright for our own authors, on the plea that "charity begins at home," as well as for international copyright throughout a world-wide republic of letters. The later movements in America for international copyright brought out much writing, though largely in periodical articles and pamphlets, among the most noteworthy of which were Dr. Francis Lieber's letter "On international copyright," of 1840, Henry C. Carey's "Letters on international copyright," of 1853, and "The international copyright question considered," of 1872, George Haven Putnam's monograph on "International copyright," of 1878, and Richard Grant White's "American view of the copyright question," of 1880.
Later American pamphleteers During the copyright campaign leading to the act of 1891, several pamphlets were issued on behalf of the American (Authors) Copyright League, notably Rev. Dr. Henry van Dyke's "National sin of piracy," of 1888, and Prof. Brander Matthews's "Cheap books and good books," on the texts of James Russell Lowell's epigram, "There is one thing better than a cheap book, and that is a book honestly come by," and George William Curtis's words, "Cheap books are good things, but cheapening the public conscience is a very bad thing,"—which last paper is reprinted in Putnam's "Question of copyright."
The leading American law book writer has been Eaton S. Drone, later editor of the New York Herald,American treatises whose valuable "Treatise on the law of property in intellectual productions in Great Britain and the United States" (Boston, Little, Brown & Co., 1879, 8vo, 774 p.) covered comprehensively the general copyright legislation of 1870–74, and superseded the earlier standard American law book, George Ticknor Curtis's work of 1847, "Treatise on the law of copyright . . . as enacted and administered in England and America." The volume on "Copyright, its law and its literature," by R. R. Bowker and Thorvald Solberg (N. Y. Publishers' Weekly, 1886, 8vo, 136 p.), the latter furnishing the bibliography of copyright, included fac-simile of the autograph signatures in the memorial of American authors of 1885, and a reprint of Sir James Stephen's digest of British copyright law, as well as the revised statutes, constituting the copyright law of the United States at that time. "The question of copyright," by George Haven Putnam (N. Y., Putnams, 1891, 12mo, 412 p.), brought into one compilation many of the important documents and articles, including the text of the act of 1891. A valuable digest of "Copyright cases, 1891–1903," American and English, was compiled by Arthur S. Hamlin for the American Publishers Copyright League (N. Y., Putnams, 1904, 8vo, 237 p.).
Copyright Office publications The most valuable series of current publications on copyright are those issued from the Library of Congress by the Copyright Office, under Register Solberg's administration. The most important of these series is that of Copyright Office Bulletins issued at irregular intervals, of which No. 14 presents the current copyright law and No. 15, issued in 1910, gives the "Rules and regulations for the registration of claims to copyright" under the new law. No. 3, as issued in a second edition in 1906, contains the full text of "Copyright enactments of the United States, 1783–1906," and No. 8, issued in 1905, "Copyright in Congress, 1789–1904," contains a bibliographical and chronological record of all proceedings in Congress. Several bulletins were issued during the preparation of the law of 1909, of which the most important was No. 9, giving the "Provisions of the United States copyright laws with a summary of some parallel provisions of the laws of foreign countries." No. 5 covers copyright in England, presenting the full text of copyright acts from 1875 to 1902, including and supplementing Sir James Stephen's digest of British copyright law; No. 6, "Copyright in Canada and Newfoundland" up to 1903; No. 7, "Foreign copyright laws now in force" up to 1904; No. 11, "Copyright in Japan" up to 1906; and No. 13, the documents of the International Copyright Union, including the Berlin convention of 1908. Bulletins No. 1 and 2 cover the former copyright law and directions for registration under it. Many of these bulletins are already out of print. A minor series is that of Information circulars, of which forty-five have been published, many of them now out of date and superseded, covering from time to time current information as to laws, proclamations, treaties, etc., domestic and foreign, as well as opinions of the Attorneys-General, custom regulations and the like.
Labor report A report on the effect of the international copyright law by the Commissioner of Labor, Carroll D. Wright, was presented to the Senate in 1901.
English contributions about 1840 Copyright literature in England is too extensive for more than brief reference here. "The great debate," led by Serjeant Talfourd on one side and Lord Macaulay on the other, is recorded in Hansard's Parliamentary Debates (third series, volume LVI of 1841), and the speeches of the two combatants are reprinted in their respective works. John James Lowndes's "Historical sketch of the law of copyright" was printed in 1840, with especial reference to Serjeant Talfourd's bill, and contained an appendix on the state of copyright in foreign countries—America, France, Holland and Belgium, the German states, Russia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, Spain, and the Two Sicilies. "A plea for perpetual copyright," by W. D. Christie, was also put forth in 1840. Carlyle's caustic "Petition on the copyright bill" is included in his "Critical and miscellaneous essays."
Later English contributions Among the later noteworthy contributions to the subject were the caustic denunciation of international piracy by Charles Reade, the novelist, under the title "The eighth commandment," reprinted in America by Ticknor & Fields, in i860; Matthew Arnold's Fortnightly article of 1880, on "Copyright," printed in the volume of his collected works containing his "Irish essays"; John Camden Hotten's seven letters on "Literary copyright," in a volume of 1871; and Walter Besant's volume "The pen and the book," of 1899, containing a special chapter on copyright and literary property by G. H. Thring, Secretary of the British Society of Authors. Herbert Spencer made several contributions to the subject, some of which were reprinted in his "Various fragments."
English legal treatises There had been published, so early as 1823, the first edition of Richard Godson's "Practical treatise on the law of patents for inventions and of copyright," which was immediately translated into French and became the standard English work, being supplemented in 1832 with an abstract of the laws in foreign countries and republished in a second comprehensive edition in 1840 by Saunders & Benning, London; in 1844 this second edition, with a supplement covering the recent laws, was reissued by W. Benning & Co., in an octavo of 700 pages, and in 1851 a separately published supplement by Peter Burke brought Godson's work up to that date. Another early English law book was Robert Maugham's "Treatise on the laws of literary property, comprising the statutes and cases; with an historical view and disquisitions," published by Longmans in 1828. The standard work of W. A. Copinger on "The law of copyright, in works of literature and art," first published in 1870 and re-issued in a fourth edition, as edited by J. M. Easton (London, Stevens & Haynes, 1904, 8vo, 1155 p.), includes as well as English and American decisions, chapters on international copyright and on copyright in foreign countries, with full text of English and many foreign statutes, and many legal forms. A work by J. H. Slater covered "The law relating to copyright and trade-marks" (London, Stevens, 1884, 8vo, 466 p.), in the form of a digest of the more important English and American decisions. The writer of the York Prize Essay of the University of Cambridge for 1882, T. E. Scrutton, rewrote and extended his work under the title of "The law of copyright," later continued into a fourth enlarged edition (London, Clowes, 1893, 4 ed., 8vo, 356 p.). B. A. Cohen published a compact study of "The law of copyright" in 1896.
Birrell's lectures Augustine Birrell, as Quain Professor of law at University College, London, delivered a series of lectures in 1898, of which seven were printed in his delightfully readable little volume on "The law and history of copyright in books" (London, Cassell, 1899, 12mo, 228 p.).
MacGillivray's works The latest English law-book writer is E. L. MacGillivray, whose "Treatise upon the law of copyright," British and American (London, Murray, 1902, 8vo, 439 p.) is extremely valuable as a case digest, with foot-note references to cases. This was followed by a brief "Digest of the law of copyright," English only, prepared by the same writer for the Publishers Association of Great Britain and Ireland (London, Butterworth, 1906, 12mo, 106 p.). The same association has printed annually from 1901, a digest of "Copyright cases," which are collected in two volumes, for 1901–04 and 1905–10 inclusive, also edited by Mr. MacGillivray.
English special treatises Special English treatises on specific classes of copyright protection are Colles and Hardy's "Playright and copyright in all countries" (London, Macmillan, 1906, 8vo, 275 p.); Edward Cutler's "Manual of musical copyright law" (London, Simpkin, Marshall, 1905, 8vo, 213 p.); Reginald Winslow's "The law of artistic copyright" (London, Clowes, 1889, 8vo, 215 p.) ; Edmunds and Bentwich's "The law of copyright in designs" (London, Sweet & Maxwell, 1908, 2 ed., 8vo, 488 p.); Knox and Hind's "Law of copyright in designs" (London, Reeves & Turner, 1899, 8vo, 264 p.); and William Briggs's comprehensive treatise on "The law of international copyright" (London, Stevens & Haynes, 1906, 8vo, 870 p.), the most important publication in English in its field.
Parliamentary and Commission reports The Parliamentary papers giving reports of special commissions, referred to in previous chapters, constitute an important part of the English literature of copyright, the most notable being the report of the Royal Copyright Commission issued in 1878, with Sir James Stephen's digest of the law as then existing, and a supplementary blue book of evidence; the report of the Musical Copyright Committee appointed by the Home Department, of 1904; the report of the Law of Copyright Committee appointed by the President of the Board of Trade, of 1909, with accompanying minutes of evidence; and the minutes of the Imperial Copyright Conference of 1909. The new copyright bill has been four times printed in progressive form—on its first introduction, July 26, 1910, on its reintroduction, March 30, 1911, as it emerged from committee, July 13, 1911, and as it went to the Lords, August 18, 1911.
The pending Canadian bill has been printed only as introduced April 26, 1911, but the government has supplied an accompanying memorandum comparing its provisions with existing law.
Cyclopaedias and digests The American and English law cyclopaedias and digests also give references to copyright cases and decisions, some in special chapters, more or less comprehensive of recent copyright interpretations.
French works The most recent authoritative French works on literary property are Eugène Pouillet's "Traité théorique et pratique de la propriété littéraire et artistique" (Paris, Marchal & Billard, 3d ed., 1908, 1028 p.); Gustave Huard's "Traits de la propriété intellectuelle, v. 1. Propriété littéraire et artistique" (Paris, Marchal & Billard, 1903, 400 p.), and A. Huard and Édouard Mack's "Répertoire de législation, de doctrine et de jurisprudence en matière de propriété littéraire et artistique" (Paris, Marchal & Billard, 1909, 740 p.). An earlier elaborate work is that of Claude Couhin, "La propriété industrielle, artistique et littéraire" (Paris, Larose, 1894), in three volumes.
German works For Germany the text of the general copyright law of June 19, 1901, of the law relating to figurative arts and photographs of January 9, 1907, and the amendatory law including mechanical music reproductions. May 22, 1910, should be consulted. Otto Lindemann's "Das Urheberrecht an Werken der Literatur und der Tonkunst" (Berlin, Guttentag, 1910, 3d ed., l6mo, 155 p.) is a brief compilation of and comment on these laws of 1901 and 1910. The most recent and authoritative general works are Prof. Josef Kohler's "Urheberrecht an Schriftwerken und Verlagsrecht" (Stuttgart, F. Enke, 1907, 527 p.), though some of his statements of theory have given rise to criticism and dispute, and his "Kunstwerkrecht" (Stuttgart, Enke, 1908, 191 p.), Daude's "Die Reichsgesetze über das Urheberrecht an Werken der Literatur und Tonkunst und das Verlagsrecht" (Berlin, Guttentag, 1910, 293 p.), and Dr. Albert Osterrieth's "Das Urheberrecht an Werken der bildenden Künste und der Photographic" (Berlin, Heymann, 1907, 312 p.).
Early German contributions In the early German literature of copyright should be noted the works of Putter, sometimes called the father of the modern theory of property in intellectual productions, who wrote as early as 1764, an edition of whose "Beyträge zum Teutschen Staats- u. Fürsten-Rechte" was published in Göttingen in 1777; and the tractate of Immanuel Kant, "Von der Unrechtmässigkeit des Büchernachdrucks," which may be found in his collected works.
Italian works The most important Italian work of recent issue is that of Eduardo Piola-Caselli, "Del diritto di autore" (Naples, E. Marghieri, 1907, 875 p.), and earlier works of standard character are Enrico Rosmini's "Legislazione e jurisprudenza sui diritti d'autore" (Milan, M. Hoepli, 1890, 671 p.), and Pietro Esperson, "De' diritti di autore sulle opere dell'ingegno ne' rapporti internazionali" (Torino, Unione tipografico-editrice, 1899, 278 p.).
Spanish compendium A useful compendium of Spanish copyright law of 1879 et seq., covering both the Peninsula and the ultramar colonies, was published in Havana by La Propaganda Literaria, in 1890, as edited with an interesting comparison of Spanish law with that of Great Britain and America by D. F. G. Garofalo y Morales.
International compilations A most valuable compilation of the copyright laws and treaties of all countries, comprising a literal translation into German of about 250 acts, is "Gesetze über das Urheberrecht in alien Ländern," edited in a second edition by Prof. Ernest Röthlisberger (Leipzig, Hedeler, 1902, 418 p.), which was complemented by his summary of the domestic and international law of copyright in the different countries, "Der interne und der Internationale Schutz des Urheberrechts," also in its second edition (Leipzig, Boersenverein der deutschen Buchhändler, 1904, 116 p.), comprising references or mentions covering fifty-seven countries and forty-nine colonies, especially the British colonies. With these should be mentioned "Recueil des conventions et traités concernant la propriété littéraire et artistique," published under the auspices of the Bureau of the International Copyright Union (Berne, Bureau de l'Union Internationale, 1904, 8vo, 908 p.). These works are supplemented by the publication from month to month in the Droit d'Auteur of Berne, of which Prof. Röthlisberger is the editor, of new conventions, treaties, laws and other material, bringing world-information up to date.