Home › Law for Everybody › Directions for Securing Copyrights: Penalty

Directions for Securing Copyrights: Penalty

The freight or postage must be prepaid, or the publications inclosed in parcels covered by printed Penalty Labels, furnished by the Librarian, in Free by mail. which case they will come FREE by mail (not express), without limit of weight, according to rulings of the Post Office Department. Books must be printed from type set or plates made in the United States; photographs from negatives made in the United States; chromos and lithographs from drawings or stone or transfers therefrom made in the United States.

Penalty New editions.

Notice of copyright to be Without the deposit of copies above required the copyright is void, and a penalty of $25 is incurred.

No copy is required to be deposited. elsewhere.

The law requires one copy of each new edition wherein any substantial changes are made, to be deposited with the Librarian of Congress. 4. No copyright is valid unless notice is given by inserting in given by im- every copy published, on the title page or the page following, if it be a book; or if a map, chart, musical composition, print, cut, engraving, photograph, painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, or model or design intended to be perfected as a work of the fine arts, by inscribing upon some portion thereof, or on the substance on which the same is mounted, the following words, viz: "Entered according to act of Con-- gress, in the year in the office of the Librarian of Conclaimant's gress, at Washington," or, at the option of the person entering the copyright, the words: "Copyright, 18, by.” printed.

Penalty for false claim.

Translations and dramas. , by ,

The law imposes a penalty of $100 upon any person who has not obtained copyright who shall insert the notice "Entered according to act of Congress," or "Copyright," etc., or words of the same import, in or upon any book or other article, 5. The copyright law secures to authors and their assigns the exclusive right to translate or dramatize any of their works; no notice is required to enforce this right.

6.

The original term of copyright runs for twenty-eight years. copyright. Duration of Within six months before the end of that time, the author or designer, or his widow or children, may secure a renewal for the further term of fourteen years, making forty-two years in all. Applications for renewal Renewals. must be accompanied by printed title and fee; and by explicit statement of ownership, in the case of the author, or of relationship, in the case of his heirs, and must state definitely the date and place of entry of the original copyright. Within two months from date of renewal the record thereof must be advertised in an American newspaper for four weeks. of Time of pub-

7. The time of publication is not limited by any law or regula-Time tion, but the courts have held that it should take place within a reasonable time. A copyright may be secured for a projected as well as a completed work. But the law provides for no caveat, or notice of interference-only for actual entry of title.

8. Copyrights are assignable by any instrument of writing. Such Assignments.. assignment, to be valid, is to be recorded in the office of the Librarian of Congress within sixty days from execution. The fee for this record and certificate is one dollar, and for a certified copy of any record of assignment one dollar.

9.

A copy of the record (or duplicate certificate) of any copyright Copies plicate certifi- or duentry will be furnished, under seal of the office, at the rate of fifty cents cates. each.

10.

In the case of books published in more than one volume, or Serials or separate publica-- of periodicals published in numbers, or of engravings, photographs, or tions. other articles published with variations, a copyright must be entered for each volume or part of a book, or number of a periodical, or variety, as to style, title, or inscription, of any other article. To complete the copyright on a book published serially in a periodical, two copies of each serial part, as well as of the complete work (if published separately), should be deposited. works art.

II. To secure copyright for a painting, statue, or model or de- Copyright for sign intended to be perfected as a work of the fine arts, a definite description must accompany the application for copyright, and a photograph of the same, as large as "cabinet size," mailed to the Librarian of Con gress not later than the day of publication of the work or design. The fine arts, for copyright purposes, include only painting and sculpture, and articles of merely ornamental and decorative art should be sent to the Patent Office, as subjects for Design Patents. Fine arts.

No labels or names copy-- 12. Copyrights cannot be granted upon Trade-Marks, nor upon names of companies or articles, nor upon an idea or device, nor upon right. prints or Labels intended to be used for any article of manufacture. If protection for such names or labels is desired, application must be made Foreign or International copyright.

Fees.

Full name of proprietor required. to the Patent Office, where they are registered at a fee of $6 for labels, and $25 for trade-marks. 13. The provisions as to copyright entry in the United States by foreign authors, etc., by act of Congress approved March 3, 1891 (which took effect July 1, 1891), are the same as the foregoing (except as to additional fees where the work is the production of a person not a citizen or resident).

The right of citizens or subjects of a foreign nation to copyright in the United States extends, by Presidential proclamation of July 1, 1891, to Great Britain, France, Belgium, and Switzerland. The fees for entry by foreigners must cover return postages, and are $1 for entry or $1.50 for entry and certificate of entry (equivalent to 4s. 5d. or 6s. 7d.). All publications must be delivered to the Librarian at Washington free of charge. The free penalty labels cannot be used outside of the United States. 14. Every applicant for a copyright should state distinctly the full name and residence of the claimant, and whether the right is claimed as author, designer, or proprietor. No affidavit or witness to the application is required.