Copyright: Its History and Its LawBowker, R. R. (Richard Rogers)
History
Copyright: Its History and Its Law
Bowker, R. R. (Richard Rogers)
Copyright -- History; Copyright -- United States -- History
prescribed for recording the instrument of assignment. For any requested
search of copyright office records, indexes, or deposits, fifty cents for
each full hour of time consumed in making such search: _Provided_, That
only one registration at one fee shall be required in the case of several
volumes of the same book deposited at the same time."
{Sidenote: Present organization}
The organization of the Copyright Office under the present
administration of the Librarian of Congress, Herbert Putnam, appointed
by President McKinley in 1898, and the Register of Copyrights, Thorvald
Solberg, the first and only occupant of that post, appointed by the
Librarian of Congress in 1897, presents a standard of efficiency,
celerity and economy which is a model for governmental departments, or
indeed for any administrative business. The enormous amount of detail is
systematized and controlled by a remarkable method of record, and blank
forms provide in the utmost variety of detail for every feature of the
work of correspondence, especially in calling the attention of
applicants to defects in their applications, which are many and various.
{Sidenote: Efficiency of methods}
As the result of this organization, the complex law of March 4, 1909,
was put in operation July 1, 1909, without a hitch; and inquiries made
to the Copyright Office are answered, usually on the same day, with
remarkable dispatch and accuracy. For instance, the many letters
directed mistakenly to the Register of Copyrights, instead of to the
Commissioner of Patents, the frequent applications for the protection of
prints designed for articles of manufacture, and the multitudinous
applications on articles not subject to copyright, or for projected
works or for book manuscripts previous to publication, are each covered
by a form letter with an index card of a distinctive color for each, so
that a full record is kept in the Copyright Office of such errors
without unduly complicating the copyright records proper. The Copyright
Office now handles approximately half a million items of entries,
deposits and correspondence during the year, and covers into the
Treasury more than $100,000, returning to the government a substantial
sum above the direct cost of administration.
{Sidenote: Registration 1909-1910}
The Copyright Office prints annually a summary of its work, from which
it appears that in the year ending June 30, 1910, the first year of
operation of the new copyright code, it had issued copyright
certificates to the number of 96,634, representing an equal number of
registrations at $1 each. In addition thereto 11,433 registrations were
made for photographs at fifty cents each, for which no certificates were
issued. This annual summary for the fiscal year ending June 30 is
printed as a part of the annual report, for presentation to Congress
each December; and a summary for the calendar year is printed in
separate form at the beginning of the new year.
{Sidenote: Certificates for court use}
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account