Mr. SERVEN. That is what is doing to-day. The person that buys it has the right of public performance. Mr. CHANEY. Carrying out the analogy with patents, what would you say about the right of a man who buys a patent to dispose of it in any way he pleases? Mr. SERVEN. He buys the patent right. Mr. CHANEY. He buys a machine, for instance. Mr. SERVEN. The object that is patented under the patent? Mr. CHANEY. Yes; take a reaper or a mower or a trashing machine. Mr. SERVEN. In a case of that kind it seems to me that the owner of the patent, if he likes, can do just as he pleases, and as a matter of fact in very many instances they sell the right to manufacture for certain districts---- Mr. CHANEY. Exclusive of manufacturing, I mean. Mr. SERVEN. I will follow it from the manufacturer. I remember in my own county--my native county--that a certain variety of fence that was patented, in which case rights were sold in every township, not only to manufacture, but also to sell to other residents of that town the use of that particular kind of fence, whether it was manufactured by the fellow who bought the use, or whether it was manufactured by the fellow who had a license for that town, and nobody else who did not get that from the original patent-right owner, or the licensee under him, could build that fence, and I remember that there were several farmers who liked the fence but who didn't like to pay the price, and they attempted to build it, and they were hauled up in the courts, and my remembrance is that it cost them $1,500 or $1,800 altogether to settle for a little strip of fence that was not worth more than $50. Mr. DRESSER. I don't believe a court would ordinarily give such a judgment as that in such a case. Mr. CHANEY. Suppose you limit it as to a machine, without any statement as to his rights further than there is a machine for his use. Now, has he not the right that he can dispose of that machine to anybody he chooses? Mr. SERVEN. Undoubtedly, because the law provides expressly that thing now. Mr. CHANEY. Now, then, what difference would there be---- Mr. SERVEN. The law provides expressly the opposite in regard to the public performance of the musical composition, and under that old principle let the buyer look out! He is supposed to know what the law is. Mr. CHANEY. That being so, ought not a man who buys a musical composition to have the right to do just as he pleases with it, the same as a man who purchases a mowing machine? For instance, I sing some myself. If I buy a piece of music ought I not to have a right to do what I please with it? Mr. SERVEN. Certainly, if your contract covers that. Mr. CHANEY. But suppose it does not. Mr. SERVEN. There must be an express or implied contract as to what he is buying. Mr. CHANEY. He buys the machine.