COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY R. R. BOWKER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
FOR ALL COUNTRIES
Published March 1912
Copyright progress
The American copyright code of 1909, comprehensively replacing allprevious laws, a gratifying advance in legislation despite its seriousrestrictions and minor defects, places American copyright practice on anew basis. The new British code, brought before Parliament in 1910, andfinally adopted in December, 1911, to be effective July 1, 1912, marks alike forward step for the British Empire, enabling the mother country andits colonies to participate in the Berlin convention. Among theself-governing Dominions made free to accept the British code or legislateindependently, Australia had already adopted in 1905 a complete new code,and Canada is following its example in the measure proposed in 1911, whichwill probably be conformed to the new British code for passage in 1912.Portugal has already in 1911 joined the family of nations by adherence tothe Berlin convention, Russia has shaped and Holland is shaping domesticlegislation to the same end, and even China in 1910 decreed copyrightprotection throughout its vast empire of ancient and reviving letters. TheBerlin convention of 1908 strengthened and broadened the bond of theInternational Copyright Union, and the Buenos Aires convention of 1910,which the United States has already ratified, made a new basis forcopyright protection throughout the Pan American Union, both freeingauthors from formalities beyond those required in the country of origin.Thus the American dream of 1838 of "a universal republic of letters whosefoundation shall be one just law" is well on the way towardrealization.
Field for the present treatise
In this new stage of copyright development, a comprehensive work oncopyright seemed desirable, especially with reference to the new Americancode. Neither Eaton S. Drone nor George Haven Putnam were disposed toenter upon the task, which has therefore fallen to the present writer. Hehopes that his participation for the last twenty-five years in copyrightdevelopment,—during which, as editor of the Publishers'Weekly and of the Library Journal, he has had occasion to keepwatch of copyright progress, and as vice-president of the American(Authors) Copyright League, he has taken part in the copyright conferencesand hearings and in the drafting of the new code,—will serve to makethe present volume of use to his fellow members of the Authors Club and tolike craftsmen, as well as to publishers and others, and aid in clarifyingrelations and preventing the waste and cost of litigation among thecoördinating factors in the making of books and other forms ofintellectual property.
Authorities and acknowledgments
The present work includes some of the historical material of theBowker-Solberg volume of 1886, "Copyright, its law and its literature."This material has been verified, extended and brou