us copyright office: ar-1955

8/14/2019 US Copyright Office: ar-1955

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FIFTY-EIGHTHA N N U A L REPORT OF THE

R E G I ST E R O F C O P Y R I G H T SFOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1955

C O P Y R IG H T O F F IC E

The Library of CongrtrrW A S H I N G T O N : 9jS


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I L. C. C a d Np. 1055017-: .'.". . i s : -' - ?.:!This report ig $ preprint of thc;.J..,.:::Annual Repod.of$+&Liirarian yf Congress" ..< .for the fiscal year inding June 30, 1955


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ContentsVolume of Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .niversal Copyright Convention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .dministrative Developments

Compilation of the Copyright Lawa of the World . . . . . . . . . . . ."Related Rights" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .esign ProtectionSale of Records as Publication of Recorded Work . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .opyright Cataloging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ubject Correspondence ControlAssignment Title Index: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ulletins of Court Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .evision of Fonns and Circulars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .egal Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .nternational Relations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .egislation. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .itigation

Statement of G m Cash Receipts, Yearly Fees, Number.of Regis-trations. Etc., for the Fiscal Years 1951-55 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Number of Articles Deposited During the Fiscal Years 1951-55 . . . .Registration by Subject Matter Classes for the Fiscal Years 1951-55 .Summary of Copyright Business, Fiscal Year 1955 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Assignments and Related Documents Recorded in Fiscal Years

1951-55 and Number of Individual Titles Specified (Chart) . . . .Number of Musical Compositions for Which Notices of Use Were

Filed in Fiscal Years 1951-55 (Chart) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Registrations by Subject Matter Classes in the Fiscal Year 1927 and

Renewals by Subject Matter Classes in the Fiscal Year 1954 . . . .Percentage of Renewals in the Fiscal Year 1954 to Registrations in

the F k a l Year 1927 (Chart) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Publications of the Copyright Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


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The Copyright OfficeRe por t to the Libra rian of C ongress by the Register of Co py rig hts

SIR: The work of the Copyright Officefor the fiscal year ending ending June 30,1955, is summarized as follow:Volume ofBwiness

Earned &venue during the fiscal year1955 was the largest in the history of theCopyright Office, surpassing the previoushigh reached in the fiscal year 1954. Grossreceipts amounted to $941,365.75, of which$715.06 proved to be uncollectible, and$42,08 1.81 was refunded. Applied feestransferred into the Treasury of the UnitedStates were $881,017, an increase of$9,553.50 over fiscal 1954.The steady increase in copyright regis-trations, which began in fiscal 1951, con-tinued in fiscal 1955 Registrations rosefrom 222,665 in fiscal 1954 to 224,732 infiscal 1955, an increase of 1 percent. Ofthese registrations, 13,257 were for foreignworks deposited under Public Law 84of the81st Congress, an increase of 1,188 or 10percent over last year.There wasalso an increase in other activ-ities such as the recording of assignmentsand other documents and of notices of use,the furnishing of certifications, and thesupplying of copyright registration data.Threeof the classes accounted for 76 per-cent of all registrations made. Compara-tive totals of these classts for the fiscal years1954 and 1955 follow:

Clo~s 7954 7955A (Books). ............... 51,763 54,414B (Periodicals). . . . . . . . . . . 60,667 59,448E (Muaic). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58,213 57,527--

otals.. . . . . . . . . . . . 170,643 171,389The Copyright Office turned over to theLibrary of Congress for addition to its col-lections a total of 216,445 items from copy-

;ight deposits, an increase of nearly 4percent over 1954.The activities of the Reference Divisionin seeking compliance with the copyrightlaw continued to result in a marked increasein the number of registrations and in thevalue of materials obtained. These effortswere responsible for 14,262 registrations forwhich $61,440 in fees and deposits valuedat $98,267 were received. In 1954 thecompliance activity resulted in 11,887 reg-istrations, with fees and value of depositsamounting to $50,000 and $61,106, re-spectively.Universal Copyright Conve ntion

The history of the development of theUniversal Copyright Convention has beenrecorded in the annual reports of the Reg-ister of Copyrights for the last several years.During the past year the final achievementof the years of preparatory work was insight. On June 16, 1955, there was de-posited with UNESCOn Paris the instru-ment of adherence by the twelfth country,which, under the terms of the Convention,will bring the Convention into force onSeptember 16, 1955. The United Stateswill then become, for the first time, a mem-ber of a system of international copyrightprotection that may achieve virtuallyworldwide adoption.The 12 countries among which the Con-vention will become effective on Septem-ber 16, 1955, listed in the order of theirratification or accession, are Andorra,Cambodia, Pakistan, Laos, Haiti, Spain,United States of America, Costa Rica,Chile, Israel, German Federal Republic,and the Principality of Monaco. In de-positing its ratification, the United States,

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2 REPORT OF THE REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS, 1 9 55pursuant to Article XI11 of the Conven- And it will extend to works of Unitedtion, gave notice that the Convention will States authorship the privilege heretoforealso be applicable to the territories of accorded to works of foreign authorship, ofAlaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin importing, after ad interim registration,Islands, and the Panama Canal Zone. up to 1,500 copies of English-languageMeanwhile, at the close of the fiscal year, books and periodicals fimt publisheda number of other countries were in the abroad.process of considering legislation or ofcompleting administrative action necessaryfor adherence to the Convention, and ad-ditional adherences during the ensuingmonths were anticipated.On the same date that the Conventiongoes into effect, September 16, 1955,Public Law 743, approved August 31,1954,will also become effective. This act willmodify the United States copyright law(Title 17, United States Code) in theparticulan necessary to comply with theConvention.Under the provisions of the Conventionand the new law, the works of nationalsof countries adhering to the Conventionand works fint published in such countries(except works by authors who are nationalsor domiciliaries of the United States andany works fint published in this country)will be given copyright protection in theUnited States, if all published copies bearthe symbol @ together with the name ofthe copyright claimant and the year dateof first publication placed in such mannerand location as to give reasonable noticeof claim of copyright. For works protectedunder the Convention, it will not be neces-sary to make deposit or registration in theCopyright Office except as a prerequisite tothe institution of an infringement actionin the United States courts.United States authors will obtain copy-right protection in all the other membercountries of the Convention if, in respectto those countries that would otherwise re-quire formalities such as deposit or regis-tration, all published copies of their workshear the specified form of notice.Public Law 743 will also make twochanges in our domestic law regardingworks by United States authors. I t willpermit the use of the symbol @ in thecopyright notice for all classa of works.

Administrative Developm entsCom pilation of the Copyright Laws ofth e World. The Copyright Office con-tinued its cooperation with UNESCO nd

the United Kingdom Board of Trade inthe important and valuable undertakingby UNESCOo publish an English-language compilation of the copyright lawsand related decrees, orders, regulations,etc., together with the international copy-right convention and treaties, of all thecountries of the world. The CopyrightOf-fice is contributing translations of the lawsand related material for 20 countries andis assisting in the editorial work on theentire compilation. This compilation isexpected to be completed and published inlooseleaf form during the next fiscal year.It is to be kept current thereafter by theperiodic issue of looseleaf supplements."Related Rights".-A draft interna-tional convention known as the "RomeDraft Convention," prepared under theauspices of the Berne Bureau (the Bureauof the International Union for the Protec-tion of Literary and Artistic Works) withthe participation of the InternationalLabor Organization, is concerned with theproblems of the so-called "related rights"(droits voisins), which would afford pro-tection for performing artists, phonographrecord manufacturers, and radio and tele-vision broadcasters. These problems havebeen the subject of discussion in manycountries over an extended period. TheCopyright Office has been analyzing theproblems involved in this matter as theyrelate to copyright and has arranged to co-operate in legal and factual studies as anessential prerequisite to further develop-ment of pending proposals in the field of"related rights." In collaboration withother departments of the Federal Govern-


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REPORT OF THE REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS, 1955 3merit, the Copyright Office has participatedin the organization of a panel Or repre-sentatives of industries and groups in theUnited States most directly concerned withthese problems, and two meetings of thepanel, under the chairmanship of theRegister of Copyrights, have been held.The Register also attended meetings heldin Berne and Geneva in March 1955 atwhich the program for further develop-ment of a convention was considered.Design Protection.-The Supreme Courtdecision in the case of Mazer v. Stein, 347U.S. 201, discussed in last year's annualreport, gave new impetus to the movementamong bar and industry groups to developlegislative proposals for the protection ofnonfunctional useful designs. The inter-ested bar groups have organized a DesignCoordinating Committee to study the p m blem. Th e Copyright Office has under-taken to collaborate with the Patent Officeand the Coordinating Committee in pur-suing this study in view of the overlap be-tween the areas of the copyright and patentlaws and the broad field of design. Acomprehensive bibliography on the sub-ject of design protection was prepared inthe Copyright Office by Miss BarbaraRinger, Head of the Renewal and Assign-ment Section of the Examining Division,assisted by Mrs. K. M. Mott of that Sec-tion. It was distributed among the inter-ested groups.Sale of Records as Publication of Re-corded Work.-The dicta in two recentcourt decisions, Mills Music, Inc. v. Crom-zuell Music, Inc., 126 F. Supp. 54 (S. D.N. Y. 1954), and Biltmore Music Corp.et al. v. Robert W. Kittinger (S. D. Calif.,Oct. 15, 1954), following a dictum in the1950 decision in Shapiro-BernsteinB Co.,Inc. v. Miracle Record Co., Inc., 91 F.Supp. 473, have raised a problem of far-reaching import. In thesc decisions, re-viewed more fully later in this report, thejudges made statements to the effcct thatthe sale of phonograph records of a musicalcomposition would constitute publicationof the composition. Heretofore, the con-trary has generally been assumed by the

bar and the trade, and the acceptance ofthe dicta in these decisions might jeopard-ize rights which have been thought to existin a great many musical compositions. Inan effort to settle this question, membersof the copyright bar have formed an ad hoccommittee to develop proposals for re-solving the legal issues on this point. TheCopyright Office has given assistance tothis committee by analyzing the legal prob-lems involved and has been kept informedof the committee's deliberations.Copyright Cataloging.-After an inten-sive review by the Cataloging Division ofits rules for the cataloging and indexing ofcopyright registrations, a new code of ruleswas drafted and put into effect as of Jan-uary 1, 1955, to coincide with the start ofa new 5-year segment of the Office's cardcatalog. Meanwhile, a comprehensivestudy of the content of the catalog entriescontinues with the view of simplifying theentries insofar as is consistent with therequirements for adequate records andindexes of copyright registrations.Subject Correspondence Control.-An-other study begun during the year is de-signed to develop a system for the moreeffective control by subject of the Office'scorrespondence (letters, memoranda, re-ports, ctc.) of subject significance. As aresult of this study, a plan for the establish-ment and maintenance of a subject filingsystem has been proposed and is expectedto be put into operation during the nextfiscal year.Assignment Title Index.-A project tofill a gap in the title index to the assignmentrecords of the Office for the period 1927through 1937, when no such title indexwas made, neared completion at the closeof the fiscal year. Preparation of the in-dex cards, numbering about 330,000, hadbeen completed and the remaining task ofintegrating them into the permanent cardfile was under way. The closing of thisgap will facilitate searches of the assign-ment records by the Office staff and thepublic.

Bulletins of Court Decisions.-BulletinNo. 29, the latest in the series of volumes


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4 REPORT OF TH E REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS, 1955containing court decisions in copyrightcases, was compiled and sent to the printerbefore the end of the fiscal year. The newvolume, covering the court decisions dur-ing 1953 and 1954, is expected to come offthe press in the fall of 1955. The Office 'has begun the preparation of a cumulativeindex of the court decisions published inBulletins 17 through 29, covering the years1909 through 1954.Revision of Form and Circulars.-Withthe Universal Copyright Convention andthe amendments of the copr ig ht law byPublic Law 743 becoming effective onSeptember 16, 1955, the Ofiice began theimportant task of revising its applicationforms and its infomation circulars to re-flect the changes to be brought about bythe Convention and the amendments tothe law. In preparing the new fofms andcirculars, other revisions that experiencehas shown to be desirable will be made.Legal Developm ents-International relations.-In addition tothe Universal Copyright Convention, twoother important developments in our in-ternational copyright relations occurredduring the past fiscal year. On October21,1954, diplomatic notes were exchangedbetween the United States and India con-firming the continuation after August 15,1947, of the reciprocal copyright relationsthat had been established through theUnited Kingdom before India became in-dependent; and a Proclamation was issuedby the President affirming that citizens ofIndia were entitled to the benefits of Title17 of the United States Code, includingmechanical musical rights, after August 15,1947, as well as before that date. Thesecond noteworthy event in our intema-tional relationswas the deposit by Chile, onMarch 14, 1955, of its ratification of thcBuenos Aircs Convention of 1910, wherebyChile joined with 14 other Latin Americancountries and the United States as mem-bers of that Convention.Legislation.-Although there were anunusually large number of copyright billsintroduced in Congress during the pastyear, only one bill amending the copyright

law was enacted. This was Public Law743, which has already been discussed inconnection with the Universal CopyrightConvention.H. R. 5876, introduced by CongressmanEmanuel Celler on April 27, 1955, in re-sponse to a communication from theLibrarian of Congress to the Speaker of theHouse, would authorize the Register ofCopyrights to accept the deposit of photo-graphs in lieu of actual copies of certainclassesof works where the deposit of copiesis impractical because of their "size,weight, fragility or monetary value! Thisbill passed the House of Representatives onJune 7, 1955, and awaits consideration bythe Senate at the next session of the 84thCongress.

S. 125, introduced by Senator EverettM. Dirksen on January 6,1955, would havedirected the Register to accept an appli-cation for registration of a claim to copy-right by the State of Illinois for an em-blematic design. The Libraty of Congresssuggested that the protection desired by theState of Illinois could be given more appro-priately and more effectivclly by legislationalong the lines of existing statutes protect-ing emblems of the Red Cross, the BoyScouts, etc. The Senate Judiciary Com-mittee adopted this suggestion and a re-vised bill, giving the State of Illinois theexclusive right to use thc emblem in inter-state commerce, was passed by the Senateon July 30, 1955, and by the House onAugust 1, 1955, and was approved by thePresident on August 11, 1955, becomingPublic Law 339.A number of bills to eliminate the so-called "juke-box exemption" in Section1 (e) of the copyright law, which providesthat the rendition of music on coin-oper-ated machines shall not bc deemed a publicperformance for profit, were introducedduring the past year: S. 590 by SenatorHarley M. Kilgore and nine other Senatorson January 21, 1955; H. R. 4316 by Rep-kentat ive Frank Thompson, Jr., on Feb-ruary 23,1955; H. R. 6654 by Representa-tive James C. Murray on June 5, 1955;H. R. 6855 by Representative Philip J.


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REPORT OF TIIE REGISTER OF COPYRIGHT S, 1 9 5 5Philbin on Junc 15, 1955; and H. R.68%by Representative James J. Delaney onJune 16, 1955. No action was taken' onany of these bills during thc first session ofthe Congress.

The annual reports for the last 2 yearsmade mention of a growing movementamong the bar and trade groups concernedwith copyright for a comprehensive revi-sion of the copyright law. A bill intro-duced by Representative Frank Thompson,Jr., on January 20,1955, H. R. 2677, wouldprovide for the appointment of a Commis-sion composed of 7 Presidential appointeesand 6 Members of Congress to conductstudies and make recommendations for re-vision of the copyright law. A similar bill,H. R. 5366, was introduced by Representa-tive Charles C. Diggs, Jr., on March 30,1955. Senator William Langcr also intro-duced a similar bill, S. 1254, on March 2,1955,but a few days later he asked for andreceived unanimous consent of the Senatefor indefinite postponement of considera-tion of his bill. No action was taken onthe Thompson or Diggs Bills. Meanwhile,the American Bar Association's Committeeon Program for Revision of the CopyrightLaw considered the problem and issued areport recommending that studies be con-ducted by the Copyright Office with theassistance of an advisory committee ofspecialists and representatives of the vari-ous groups and industries concerned to beappointed by the Librarian of Congress.These studies would servc as the basis forthe development of proposals for consid-eration by the Congressional committees incharge of copyright rnattcrs. In the Legis-lative Appropriation Act, 1956, Public Law242, Congress approved a sum of $20,000to enable the Copyright Office to initiatestudies as a part of a 3-year program forthe general revision of the copyright law.Several bills were introduced for thepurpose of divesting all German and Japa-nese copyrights previously vested by theAlien Property Custodian and the AttorneyGeneral, namely: S. 2227 by Senator Kil-gore on June 14,1955, H. R. 6730 by R e presentative J. Percy Priest on June 8, 1955,804894--55------2

and H. R. 6970 by Representative Albert.Ha osch on June 23, 1955. T~CSCillscould autoinatically return all vested copy-rights, with a few stated exceptions, to "thepersons cntitlcd thereto." The bills wouldalso provide for the payment of claims,within certain limits, for sums received bythe Government for the use of these copy-rights while vested. No action was takenon any of these bills during the first sessionof the 84th Congress.Two bills by Representative Kenneth B.Keating on which no action was taken inthe 83d Congress were rein t d u c e d by himin thc 84th Congress on January 5, 1955.The first, H. R. 781, would provide for astatute of limitations on civil actions underthe copyright law, and the second, H. R.782, would revise the provisions of thepresent copyright law regarding the posi-tion of the copyright notice, one of the im-portant problems to be considered in thegeneral revision of the law. No action oneither of these bilb was taken.A bill, H. R. 6716, to provide for theinstitution of infringement actions or thefiling of claims against the United Statesfor copyright infringement was introducedby Reptesentative Shepard J. Crumpackeron June 8, 1955. In his statement on thefloor, introducing this bill, ReprwcntativeCrumpacker pointed out that there is noexisting remedy for copyright proprietors,as there is for holders of patents, when thcGovernment infringes their works. Noaction was taken on this bill.S. 1954 by Senator Henry M. Jacksonand H. R. 6254 by Representative ClairEngle were introduced on May f 1 and 16,1955, respectively, for the purpose ofamending the organic act of Guam. Theseidentical bilis contain a provision extend-ing the copyright laws of the United Statesto this territory. No action was taken oneither bill.H. R. 7300, introduced by Reprcscnta-tive Frank Ikard on July 13, 1955, shortlyafter the dose of the fiscal year, proposedan amendment to the Internal RevenucCode to afford tax relief with respect tclsums recovered in infringement proceed-


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OF THE REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS, 1 9 5 56 REPORTings. As originally introduced, this billrelated to both copyright and patent in-fringements, but as enacted-Public Law366, approved August 11, 1955-4 relatedonly to patent infringements.Litigation.-As previously indicated, twocourt decisions during the past year havecreated doubts as to the validity of the as-sumption upon which the bar and tradehave acted for many years, that the sale ofphonograph records of a musical composi-tion does not constitute publication of thecomposition. In a 1950 decision in thecase of Shapiro-Bernstein 43 Co., Inc. v.Miracle Record Co., Inc., 91 F. Supp. 473(N . D. 111), udge Igoe, in a dictum thatwas then unique, stated the view that thesale of phonograph records of an uncopy-righted musical composition was such apublication of the composition as wouldterminate the common law literary prop-erty rights of the composer.The first of the 2 recent decisions bear-ing on this question, Mills Music, Inc. v.CromweN Music, Inc., 126 F. Supp. 54(S. D. N. Y. 1954), involved the song"Tzena Tzena," which had been composed,performed, and recorded in Israel but, asthe court found, had never been published.The Israeli recording company, contraryto the composer's wishes, arranged to haverecords of the song made and sold in thcUnited States. The court held that thesubsequent making and sale of records inthe United States by the defendant com-pany infringed the common law rights ofthe composer's assignee since the recordspreviously sold had not been authorized bythe composer. The court added, however,the dictum that if the composer hadauthorized the manufacture and sale ofphonograph records in this country, theirsale "would have constituted a publicationof his composition * * * capable of de-stroying his common law copyright." Thecourt added further that a statutory copy-right, if previously obtained, would not beaffected by the mamfacture and sale ofrecords.The second casc rclating to this questionis an unreported decision of Octobcr 15,1954, by the Federal District Court for the

Southern District of California in BiltmoreMusic Corp., et al. v. Kittinger. The factsin this case are complicatcd but in essencethcy appear to be as follows: A musician,without authorization by the copyrightowner of a musical composition, made hisown organ arrangcmcnt which hc recordedfor the defendant rccord manufacturer.He later rccorded the same arrangementfor another record manufacturer and as-signed his rights in the arrangement to thissecond record manufacturer, who also ob-tained a license to use the original compo-sition. The second record manufacturerassigned all his rights to the plaintiff, whoregistered a claim of statutory copyright inthe arrangement and filed a notice of use.The plaintiff then sought to restrain thedefendant from making and sclling furthercopies of its records. In dismissing thecomplaint, the court held, without specify-ing the bases for its conclusions, that ( 1the failure of the copyright owne? of theoriginal composition to file a notice of useprecluded any recovery from the defendantfor his recording of that composition; (2)the composer of the arrangement had au-thorized the defendant to make and sellrecords of his arrangement; ( 3) the failureof the plaintiff's assignor to file a notice ofuse in respect of the arrangement precludedany recovery from the defendant for itsrecording of the arrangement; and (4)since the arrangement had been published(presumably by the sale of records) beforecopyright was secured, the claim of copy-right subsequentIy registered was invalid.

Another concept of long standing wasshaken by the decision of the Federal Courtof Appeals for the Second Circuit inShapiro, Bernstein and Co,, Inc. v. JerryIr'ogel, 221 F. 2d 569, modified in 223 F. 2d252. It has generally been thought thatcollaboration between the composer andlyricist was necessary to constitute a jointwork of music and words. In this case themusical composition, "Twelfth Street Rag,"had been composed by Euday L. Bowmanas instrumental music alonc. He assignedall his rights to a publisher who, severalyears later, arrangcd to have James S.Sumner write lyrics to accompany the


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REPORT OF TH E REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS, 1 9 5 5 7music. Thc opinion of the district court( 115F. Supp. 754), reviewed in last year'sannual report, held that the music andlyrics together constituted a compositework, not a joint work, with the conse-quence that the owner of renewal copyrightin the lyrics was not entitled to use themusic together with the lyrics. The cir-cuit court, overruling the district court,held that the music and lyrics together con-stituted a joint work, so that thc separateowners of the renewal copyrights were eachentitled to use thc music and lyrics together,with an accounting between the two copy-right owners for such use of the joint work.Capitol Records, Inc. V. Mercury REG-ords, Inc., 221 F . 2d 657 (2d Cir. 1955),is a case of considerable interest with re-spect to the scope of copyright under theConstitution. Th e plaintiff had acquiredfrom a German recorder, to whom the per-forming artist had assigned his rights, theexclusive right to make and sell in theUnited States phonograph records of a pcr-formance of public domain music. Theplaintiff, having made and sold such rcc-ords, sought to enjoin the defendant frommaking and selling copies of the same re-cording. Th e three circuit court judgesagreed (1) that the recorded performanceof a performing artist is a "writing" of an"author" under the Constitution and couldtherefore be given protection by Congressunder the copyright law; (2) that Con-gress has not provided for the protection ofperforming artists in the copyright law;and (3) that performing artists haveliterary property rights in their perform-ances under the common law. The major-ity of the Court held further, with JudgeLearned Hand dissenting, that the sale ofrecords of the performance did not termi-nate the performer's common law right,acquired by the plaintiff, to restrain themaking and sale of unauthorized copiesof the recording.A novel and interesting case relating tothe perplexing doctrine of "fair use" wasLoew's Inc. v. Columbia BroadcastingSystem, Inc., 131 F . Supp. 165 (S. D.Calif. 1955). This case involved an in-Ilingement action by the copyright pro-

prietor of the motion pictuir: "Gaslight"against the broadcaster and pcrforrner ofa radio and television parody of the mo-tion picture. The court granted an in-junction against the making of a film ofthe parody for television broadcast, hold-ing that parody of the entire motion picturewas not "fair use" of the copyrighted work.The court considered that thc doctrine of"fair use" would be more liberally con-strued where the field of learning is con-cerned than where commercial exploitationand gain is involved.In last year's annual report, referencewas made to the case of E. B. Marks M usicC o r p . v. Continental Record Co., 120 F .Supp. 275 (S. D. N. Y. 1954), in whichthe district court held that a musical com-position copyrighted in 1902 did not, byvirtue of renewal in 1929 and 1930, obtainthe mechanical reproduction rights pro-vided for in the law of 1909, for the reasonthat such rights were in the public domainat the time of the first publication of thecomposition This opinion was upheld bythe court of appeals in 222 F. 2d 488 (2dCir. 1955). A petition for writ of certiorariwas filed with the United States SupremeCourt by the plaintiff on July 7, 1955.A case of copyright interest in which apetition for writ of certiorari was rejectedby the Supreme Court during the past yearis Warn er Bros. Pictures, In c. v. ColumbiaBroadcasting System, Inc., et al., 206 F . 2d945 (9th Cir. 1954),cert. denied, 348 U. S.971 (March 28,1955). Th e dispute aroseout of the contention by the plaintiffmotion picture company that its acquisi-tion of rights in the defendant DashiellHammett's copyrighted book Th e MalteseFalcon included the exclusive right to theuse of the principal character under thename of Sam Spade. Defendant authorhad subsequently written a series of detec-tive stories for broadcast which utilized thesame principal character under the samename. The court dismissed the complaint,holding that, in the absence of a specificprovision in the contract, his sale of theauthor's story did not preclude his usingthe same character and name in his laterworks.


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