Arguments before the Committee on Patents of the House of Representatives, conjointly with the Senate Committee on Patents, on H.R. 19853, to amend and consolidate the acts respecting copyright: June 6, 7, 8, and 9, 1906.United States. Congress. House. Committee on Patents
History
Arguments before the Committee on Patents of the House of Representatives, conjointly with the Senate Committee on Patents, on H.R. 19853, to amend and consolidate the acts respecting copyright: June 6, 7, 8, and 9, 1906.
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Patents
Copyright -- United States
Very well. The Æolian people then caused that case to be appealed to
the circuit court of appeals. When the case came up there I filed a
petition in that court to be permitted to argue the case on behalf of
the defendant, and also file a brief, both of which petitions were
granted. In that petition I repeated the whole Æolian story over
again, and I served a copy of that petition on Mr. Hughes a week
before the argument came up, and he had abundant opportunity to reply
to it. I also called him up and asked him if he was going to reply to
it, and he said "No." And when he came to the argument he was as
silent as the grave; though he had nearly two hours for his speech, he
was as silent as was the grave in respect to all the allegations I had
made about the inherent character of the Æolian scheme, and confined
himself entirely to attempting to persuade the court that a perforated
paper roll was an infringement of sheet music, and that however
unconscientious the Æolian scheme might be as the representative of
the Æolian company it was entitled to the pound of flesh.
And that was the way he met the second presentation of the Æolian
scheme. Afterwards, two weeks ago yesterday, the circuit court of
appeals for the second circuit decided against him again.
Mr. BONYNGE. How long ago?
Mr. WALKER. Two weeks ago yesterday.
Mr. CURRIER. The decision is in the record already.
Mr. WALKER. Certainly.
Now, I wish to say this to the committee, that that Æolian scheme is
the most ingenious scheme that I ever knew to be invented by anybody
in this country for the purpose of acquiring wealth by means of a
patent or a copyright monopoly. And, further than that, I wish to say
that the Æolian scheme is so ingenious that it does not violate any
law whatever except one, and that is the golden rule. You can not
square the Æolian scheme with the Sermon on the Mount, but you can
square it with the Sherman antitrust act, and you can square it with
every statute on the statute books. They have dodged a violation of
every statute in inventing their scheme. And now they lack nothing at
all to consummate their scheme except for Congress to pass this bill
in the form in which it is drawn. That will place the capstone upon
the monument, and will give to the Æolian Company a million of dollars
a year out of the pockets of the people of the United States. And of
that million of dollars they will keep at least $900,000, and about
$90,000 of the rest will go to the music publishers, and not one cent
over $10,000 of the whole million will go into the pockets of any
music composers during their natural lives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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