Register of Copyrights
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SIXTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1965 COPYRIGHT OFFICE THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON: 1966 This report is ,mprintd from the Ann& Report of tbLibr& of Uunqnwu for the fiscal year ending June 30,1966 Contents THECOPYRIGHT Om ........................................................ 1 The Year's Copyright Business ............................................ ; ..... 2 Official Publications ........................................; .................. 3 Copyright Contributions to the Library of Congrrss ................................ 3 Administrative Developments ................................................... 4 Probkxm Arising From Computer Technology ................................... 4 Nature of Copyrighted Material Renewed ....................................... 5 Mexican Search Project ...................................................... 6 Visitors and Exhibits ......................................................... 6 Storage of Deposit Copies .......................................... ......... 7 Legislative Developments ....................................................... 7 Judicial Developments ......................................................... 8 Actions Pending Against the Register of Copyrights ............................... 8 Subject Matter and Scope of Copyright Protection ............................... 9 Publication .................................................. : .............. 12 NoticeofCopyright .......................................................... 13 Registration ................................................................ 14 Renewals, Aasignmcnts, and Ownerehip of Copyright ............................. 14 Infringement and Remedies ................................................... 15 Unfair Competition and Copyright ............................................. 17 International Developments ..................................................... 18 International Copyright Relations of the United Statcs as of December 1, 1965 ......... 19 Reghtration by Subject Matter Classes ........................................... 21 Statement of Gross Cash Rectipta, Yearly Fees, Number of Registrations, etc .......... 21 Number of Articles Deposited ................................................... 22 Summary of Copyright Business, Fiscal Year 1965 .................................. 23 Publications of the Copyright O& ............................................. 25 The Copyright Oflice Report to the Librarian of Congress by the Register of Copyrighis HE PIUNCIPAL OBJECT of the Copy- ditional adjustments needed to be sought. right OBce's legal efforts and concern During the ensuing 6 months the CoWright Tfor the past decade, the program for Office reviewed and analyzed the many writ- general revision of the copright law, entered &n and oral comments made on the 1964 bill, its climactic phase in fiscal 1965. Early in the and in light of them completely redrafted the year, following an intensive period of review bill. and rewriting of the preliminary draft sections The final, lqishtive phase of the general: previously distributed and discussed, the Oflice &on program began on Feb- 4, 1965, submitted a completely revised bill to the Con- when Senator John L. McClellan and Repre- gress for introduction. sentative Emanuel Celler introduced the 1965 The copyright revision bill of 1964 (S. 3008, bill (S. 1006, H.R. 4347,89th Cong., 1st stss.) H.R. 11947,H.R. 12354,88thCong.,2dsess.), with the expectation of active consideration by which was introduced in both houses of Con- the 89th Co-. The bill was also in- gress on July 20, 1964, incorpomted substan- duced by Representatives William L. St. Onge tial modifications in the language and content (H.R. WIO), Henxy Helstoski (H.R. 6831), of the previous draft. These changes were and John S. Monagan (H.R. 6835). The made in a further effort to seek compromises Copyright Office devoted the next 3 months on the many issues then in dispute and to make to the preparation of a supplement to the 1961 the bill as brief, simple, and ckar as possible. Report of the Register of CoMhts on the The 1964 bill was not introduced with any ex- GendRevision of the CoMhtLcuu, which pectation of legislative action during the 88th supplement set forth the masons for chang- Congress but to serve as a focal point for fur- ing a number of the recommendation8 in the ther comments and suggestions leading to a 1%1 report and clatified the meaning of the final version of the bill on which Congressional prmrisions of the 1%5 bill. Publication of the action could be taken. Supplementary Report in May 1965 coincided It served this purpose very well. In August with the opening of Congressional hearings on 1964 a full week of discussions of its provisions the bill. took place in New York. This included a 3- These hearings, which began in the House day meeting of the American Bar Association of Representatives on May 26, 1965, before Committee 304 on the Program for General Subcommittee No. 3 of the Committee on the Revision of the Copyright Law and a 2day Judiciary, were still going on as the fixal year meeting of the Register's Panel of Consultants. ended. Under the dediited and perceptive These sessions clearly showed the substantive chairmanship of Representative Robert W. issues and questions of drafting which could Kastenmeier of Wisconsin, the subcommitbe be regarded as settled and those on which ad- approached its task with a diligence and obh- I 2 REPORT OF THE REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS, 1 9 6 5 tivity that established a high level for nearly The Year's Copyright Business all of the testimony that followed. The open- ing witness for the bill was Librarian of Con- Those who lived through fiscal 1965 in the gress L. Quincy Mumford; as the Register of Copyright Oflice think of the increase in work- Copyrights was prevented by illness ffom at- load as huge bundles of material piled on tending the first several days of hearings, the trucks, shelves, desks, chairs, and often the Deputy Register, George D. Ca~y,with the floor. The increase is impressive on paper too. assistance of Abe A. Goldman and Barbara A. That the year was another record breaker al- Ringer, prepared and presented the Oftice's most goes without saying. But it is worthy of testimony before the subcommittee. Hear- some reflection that 1965 was the 13th ings in the Senate did not begin in fiscal 1965 straight year in which total reghations in- but were expected to start before the end of creased, that it marks a cumulative incn?ase in the first session of the 89th Congrm. registrations of more than 30 percent over the As the fiscal year closed, general copyright last 10 years, and that it represents an increase law revision in the United States seemed near- of more than 5 percent ovu last year's 5-per- er than it had been for decades, but it was in- cent increase. This is all the more striking creasingly obvious that a great deal remained when one realizes that, during this same pe- to be done in working out adjustments on sev- riod, the principal planning and development eral important and difficult substantive issues. activities of the Copyright Office have necea- Foremost among these are: the question of sarily centered around the revision program fair use and the reproduction of copyrighted rather than the daily work of the Office itself. works for educational and research purposes; Registrations hit a total of almost 294,000, the jukebox exemption; the liability of cam- an increase over last year of 14,630. The munity antenna television systems for use of largest gains were in the largest classes, music, copyrighted materials; the royalty rate to be books, periodicals, and renewals of all classes. paid under the compulsory license for record- The increases were mostly in the domestic ing music; and the manufacturing require- categories, the declines in foreign registrations ment with respect to English-language books totaling nearly 4 percent. Map entries in- and periodicals. The Supplementary Report creased 67 percent, and the generally declin- recognized the need for changes in the pd- ing categoly of commercial prints and labels sions dealing with these and other problems showed a surprising 7-percent gain. On the brought on by the technological revolutions of other hand, the dled"design" regha- the 20th'century when it said : tions, notably in textiles and jewelry, declined by about 11 percent. The introduction of bills for hearinp in Of the 316,000 applications for registration 1965 is, of course, a milestone in the revision and documents for recordation received dur- program, but it is not the end of the =d. ing the year, 86 percent were acted upon with- It should be obvious by now that neither the out correspondence. Rejectinns amounted to bill nor the Supplementary Report represents 2.7 percent of the total, and the remaining any final statement of the fixed views of the 11.3 percent required correspondence before Copyright Of15ce. Our purpose is the enact- final action could be taken. The Service Di- ment and implementation of a good, clear, vision processed 3 18,000 pieces of incoming practical copyright law that will reward\ au- mail and 323,000 pieces of outgoing mail, con- thon and thereby encourage the arts and hu- ducted 50,000 searches in connection with manities; and we are aware that further pending material, prepared and filed more changes will undoubtedly need to be con- than 350,000 cards related to material in sidered.