the work to those other countries in lieu of having the individual publishers or creators of the work do so. I would like to address myself first to what I would consider personally the most important part of the Act. Under the law as it now exists a foreign work first published in the English language to obtain copyright protection in the United States must go through two steps. In the first place, application for ad interim copyright, as it is called, must be made to the Copyright Office and within 60 days after first publication of that work abroad. That gives the applicant copyright in the United States for a period of 4 months from the date of registration. Mr. BRYSON. That is similar to where you put on a manufactured piece of machinery the words "Patent applied for"? Mr. FARMER. It is somewhat similar except under patents it gives warning that there is a patent application but does not give the right for infringement. Mr. BRYSON. Does not the stamp "Book copyright applied for" accomplish the same thing? Mr. FARMER. You are not permitted, where you get an ad interim copyright, to import for sale here that protection as the law exists, and that is one change which is being made in section 1. In other words, all that this ad interim copyright does is to reserve to you the copyright to the work in the United States until you can print the work in the United States in compliance with the formalities of section 16, the so-called manufacturing clause, and you are given 4 months after registration in which to accomplish that printing and publishing in the United States. If you fail to print and publish within the 4 months-that is, if the foreign author does fail-then he loses the copyright. In other words, the copyright ends at the end of that 4-month period. If he complies by printing in accordance with section 16, then he may apply for extension of his copyright to the full term of 28 years with the right of renewal which all American books have. In other words, if he first applies for ad interim and then within 4 months thereafter prints and publishes in the United States, having made due registration of the book, he is then protected in the same way that the American author would be protected. Mr. WILLIS. The printing must be done in the United States? Mr. WILLIS. How extensive must the printing be within those 4 months? Can he make a token printing? Mr. FARMER. He can make a token printing of one copy, but you have a practical situation involved. Actually, people do not print books unless they feel they can market the books, except in the case of rare treatises. Today, to make a profit on an edition of works of published books, it is necessary to print and sell a minimum of 3,000, and it may range as high as 5,000 and 6,000 copies, depending on the nature of the book. Therefore, the theoretical concept that there need only be a token printing has very little application. Either they print the book and market it, or they do not print it because publishing and printing costs are too high. Mr. BRYSON. Unless there is an unusual case where a very rich man wanted a limited edition. Mr. FARMER. That would be possible. But, for practical purposes, I think we can ignore those unusual situations, because they have not occurred to any extent in this country. Mr. BRYSON. Not many authors are rich enough. Mr. FARMER. The rich author comes to the United States, and he does not have to worry about that. Mr. BERNHARDT (committee counsel). The 4 months period starts to run with the first publication abroad; does it not? Mr. FARMER. That is a matter of very grave dispute. My interpretation of the fact is that-you mean to print it? Mr. BERNHARDT. Yes. Mr. FARMER. No, the 4 months starts to run with the day of receipt of the ad interim registration. In other words, you have 60 days. after publication abroad to apply for ad interim. Mr. WILLIS. I see. Mr. FARMER. Then, having received ad interim, whether that ad interim is received within 40 days, 50 days, or 60 days, the 4 months extends from the day of receipt of ad interim registration. What I thought you were starting to ask is when does the period of copyright start to run. There is great doubt on that, which is cleared up in this bill incidentally. Mr. WILLIS. Suppose I am an English author and I put out a book in England. Then, within 60 days from the date that I have published in England, I must make an ad interim application here? Mr. FARMER. That is right, sir. Mr. WILLIS. Then, within 4 months from that ad interim registration here, I would have 4 months to do some printing here? Mr. FARMER. That is right, sir. Mr. WILLIS. And all of the distribution of my work in America would have to be printed here and not in England? In other words, I could not ship the books from England? Mr. FARMER. You cannot ship the books from England without loss of copyright. If you ship books from England to this country, except for the two copies required for ad interim registration, you lose your copyright in this country. Mr. WILLIS. That is the way this works now? Mr. FARMER. That is right. There is no limit on how many books you may ship into this country; but, if you do, you lose your copyright and anybody can reprint, plagiarize and make motion pictures from them, and so forth. Mr. WILLIS. That statute in here does not do away with that provision? Mr. FARMER. It would to this extent: that, having obtained ad interim copyright, you might be permitted to import up to 1,500 copies of the work as printed abroad without losing your copyright. Let me carry that on one step, because it comes into the situation that I believe you asked, sir, with respect to protection of American labor. Inasmuch as it is unprofitable for an American publisher to get out an edition of a work unless he feels he can sell from 3,000 to 5,000 copies, if he feels that he can only sell 1,500 copies that will not be printed here. Therefore, the importation of 1,500 copies from the other side would not affect the work on this side. On the other hand, it would probably help both labor and the American publisher in this way: It is obvious that the English tastes in literature and the American tastes in literature are not the same. Some books that go well in England do not go well here, and vice versa. Up to this time, there has been no method by which the American publisher could test the interst in English books. If this provision goes through, ad interim copyright may be obtained, the American publisher may make an exclusive arrangement with the English publisher to import the 1,500 copies with an option agreement by which he can then obtain the right to publish the work in the United States. With that, he can place a few copies of the English work printed abroad in various key cities in the United States and see whether they will go. If they go, he takes up his option and then he prints his edition here and markets; and, of course, that helps both the publisher and the printing industry. If it does not go, he has not hurt the American printing industry any, and it is simply a question that he has the 1,500 books and he either may or may not make money. Mr. WILLIS. That 1,500 books which might thus be sent here in effect would do away with the necessity for token printing in America? Mr. FARMER. Practically speaking, they do not do it. In this country, talking practically, either they make an agreement for exclusive American rights and publish a full edition of 3,000 or 5,000 or they do not print at all. Mr. WILLIS. Does the statute do away with that 60-day period? Mr. FARMER. Yes, sir, for the 60 days we have substituted 6 months as being a much more practicable period of time. Mr. WILLIS. For the 4 months? Mr. FARMER. We substitute 5 years for the 4 months. Mr. FARMER. It is a far greater extension. Mr. BRYSON. What is your justification? Mr. FARMER. Twofold. Certain types of books have a long-time life; they are not like Gone With The Wind or some of the trade books which, when they hit the market, they sell and 2 years later they are gone. Mr. BRYSON. Is that not true with most books? Mr. FARMER. If you are talking about popular books, the so-called trade books, that is true. But if you are talking about works of standard authors-Galsworthy, Bennett, Harding-they just do not burst into flame; they have a long-time life; and, as a matter of fact, if you are talking about trade and practice, the foundation of many an old American house is the back lists that they have of these standard authors and of which they sell so many thousands of copies year after year. Mr. BRYSON. But that is infinitesimal as compared with the volume and number of books printed. It seems to me that most books printed are of short life, these risqué books, such as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn? Mr. FARMER. I think that is right. Mr. BRYSON. You read where they are ahead in the best sellers' list, and pretty soon they are off that list. Mr. FARMER. But practically none of those books will you find are of foreign origin. In addition to that, your American publisher is limited in this way: He can only import 1,500 copies. If the book looks as though it is going to go, the American publisher is going to print more than 1,500 copies. So long as the American publisher feels that he is going to have a market over here, he is going to publish. The 1,500 copies is not going to supply a profitable demand. Mr. WILLIS. Let me ask you this: How does the proposition work in reverse? What are the restrictions against American authors writing English books and shipping to England? In other words, are they more liberal or restrictive or will it put us in line? Mr. FARMER. At the present time, there are a group of countries which are adherents to the International Copyright Convention familiarly known as the Berne Convention. The United States is not one of those adherents, because there are certain principles in the Berne Convention which the United States felt it could not adhere to. For example, in the Berne Convention there is no requirement that you must manufacture in one of the Berne countries. We were unwilling to give up that right. There are certain protections for the Berne countries, such as the right of the author not to have the work perverted or to have a motion picture made of it which misrepresents his real point of view. Those things we did not feel we were able to accept. In these countries if a work is published-I am going back to that word "published," and that is why I emphasize it-in any one of the countries of the Berne Convention, it is thereby protected in every country of the Berne Convention. Mr. WILLIS. But we do not belong to that. Mr. FARMER. That is correct. However, we do have a right to publish the work in a Berne Convention country. The word "publish" as it has now been accepted in international copyright does not mean manufacture. In fact, by the latest amendment, the Brussels amendment, "published" has come to mean put on sale and with a sufficient number of copies kept on sale to satisfy the public demand in a Berne Convention country. The result is that, practically speaking, your American publisher gets protection in most of the Berne Convention countries, which includes most of the civilized countries of the world. I might add it does not include the U. S. S. R. Simply by sending a sufficient number of copies to Canada, keeping them on sale, and keeping enough copies up there to satisfy the demand up there meets the requirement. Mr. BRYSON. In other words, we enjoy the protection of the Berne Convention without forfeiting the right that we cherish so highly; that is, the higher standards of living? Mr. FARMER. That is correct, sir. Now, we are running up against this proposition which has been. raised, and I think it should be mentioned. Mr. WILLIS. Before you go on, I would still like to have you demonstrate specifically what would happen to my work in America if I wanted to ship it to England, the periods of introduction involved, whether my work has to be printed by English printers, and so forth. In other words, compare what you say happens to English books coming to America as against an illustration of a book going there from America. Mr. FARMER. This is all that is necessary for the American writer to get copyright protection in every country in the Berne Convention, including England: he ships sufficient copies to England or one of the other Berne Convention countries to satisfy what he estimates to be the immediate public demand there and places it on sale. Mr. WILLIS. Do you mean he ships from here books printed in America? Mr. FARMER. That is correct, to one of these countries in time to be put on sale in one of those countries within 30 days after first publication in the United States. Then he has the protection. Mr. BRYSON. How does he ascertain a sufficient number; just a guess? Mr. FARMER. Just an estimate. Mr. BRYSON. No legal requirement? Mr. FARMER. There are no legal requirements, the statute is quite indefinite. If, for example, it suddenly developed that there was a great demand for it, he would have to keep up additional copies to meet the demand. Mr. WILLIS. He must make that shipment within 60 days? Mr. FARMER. 30 days; that is important. The Berne Convention used to require simultaneous publication; but, by the Brussels amendment, they have liberalized it, and we do not have to publish except in 30 days. Mr. GOODWIN. Mr. Chairman? Mr. BRYSON. Mr. Goodwin. Mr. GOODWIN. I do not know that it has anything to do with the Berne Convention, but I am curious to know what is meant by the reference on one of the first pages of so many books, "All rights reserved in all countries except Scandinavia"? Mr. FARMER. Generally, including Scandinavia. Mr. GOODWIN. All right. Mr. FARMER. There was an old clause in one of the convention articles which referred to an express reservation of rights. There was a great question of doubt that that was necessary at all. Is it still used? I have not read very much since Forever Amber, but is it still used? Mr. FARMER. It is used very, very seldom. Some publishing houses are affected with tradition, which means that if you once did a thing you continue to do it indefinitely. Mr. WILLIS. Coming back to the treatment of the American authors by foreign countries, including England, go a little step further. After publication in America and then the shipment to England within 30 days after the book is printed in America, is that in quantity sufficient to test the market for the book, or are all shipments printed in America, or must they be printed in England? Mr. FARMER. They need never be printed in England. It is difficult to state because all the statute says is sufficient to meet the demand. I would suspect that so long as the publisher made an honest effort to supply the demand and it was not just a pro forma thing to ship a few copies over that it would be adequate to retain protection. Mr. BERNHARDT. Can the domestic publisher augment his original shipment at will? 88180-49-3 |