Copyright in engravings, maps, etc., is se cured by several acts; the term is 28 years. Each plate and print must bear the name of the proprietor. Copyright in paintings, draw ings and photographs is secured to the artist during his life and seven years after, by an act of 1862. In 1874 the Canadian Copyright Act enabled a British author to obtain copyright in Canada for 28 years, provided his work be published in the colony. This right is concur rent with and in addition to the nghts given by the Imperial Act of 1842.
Prior to the enactment of the first Federal Copyright Law, the various States of the Union had individual copyright laws, having in view the same general purposes, expressed in the Federal Act, that is, to secure to authors or publishers of new books the copyright of such books, and for the encouragement of literature and genius, which laws, generally speaking, fol lowed a resolution of the United States Con gress passed 2 May 1783, recommending that the several States secure to the authors and publishers of boolcs and publications the ex clusive benefits derived from the sale of such publications for a limited period. By virtue of the authority of the Constitution of the United States 17 Sept 1787, Art 1, Sec. 8: ((The Con gress shall have power to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and individuals, ex clusive right to their respective writings and discoveries?) The act of 1790 made it possible to secure copyright protection for copies of maps, charts and books, and by an act of 29 April 1902, the benefits of copyright were extended to the arts of designing, engraving and etching, historical and other prints, and there have been many subsequent acts enlarging the scope of the copy right act, and providing for reciprocal pro tection of copyright matter, with various foreign countries.
Under the authority of the Constitution, as above mentioned, Congress, on 4 March 1909, passed an act to amend and consolidate the pre vious acts respecting copyright. This act of 1909 was amended 24 Aug. 1912, 2 March 1913, 28 March 1914, which acts are now in force, and upon complying. with their various provisions, the exclusive nght to print, reprint, publish, copy and vend the copyright work, to translate the copyrighted work into other languages, or dialects, to malce other versions of it if it be a literary work, and to dramatize it if it be a non-dramatic work; to convert it into a novel or other non-dramatic work if it be a ,drama, to arrange it or adapt it if it be a musical work; to complete, execute and finish it if it be a model or a design for a work of art; to deliver or authorize the delivery of the copyrighted work in public for profit, if it be a lecture, sermon, address or similar production; to per form or present the copyrighted work pub licly, if it be a drama, or if it be a dramatic work, and not reproduced in copies for sale; to vend any manuscript, or any record whatso ever thereof ; to make or to procure the making of any transcription or record thereof by or from which, in whole or in part, it may in any manner or by any method be exhibited, per formed, represented, produced or reproduced; and to exhibit, perform, represent, produce or reproduce it in any manner or by any method whatsoever, and to perform the copyright work publicly for profit if it be a musical composi tion, and for the purpose of public performance for profit; or to print, reprint, publish, copy and vend any arrangement or setting of it or of the melody of it in any system of notation or any form of record, in which the thought of an author may be recorded, and from which it may, be read or reproduced.
Books, including composite and cyclopedia. works, directories, gazetteers and other composi tions, periodicals, newspapers, lectures, sermons, addresses (prepared for oral delivery), dramatic or dramatico-musical compositions, maps, works of art, models or designs for works of art, reproductions of a work of art, drawings or plastic worlcs of a scientific or technical char acter, photographs, .prints and pictorial illus trations, motion picture photoplays, motion pictures other than photoplays, are by acts of 1909, 24 Attg. 1912, 2 March 1913 and 28 March 1914, made the subject matter of copy right protection.
Prior copyright laws required samples of the object upon which copyright protection was sought! to be marked with copyright notice and filed with the Librarian of Congress, before publication. The present Copyright Act of 1909 permits publication of the matter for which copyright is claimed prior to filing with the Register of Copyrights at Washington, D. C. No copyright is valid unless °Notice) of the claim is placed in some manner upon the article or object in which copyright protection is sought. Publication by a person entitled to the benefits of the act, with the copyright notice thereon, °secures) to such person the copyright, and the notice must be affixed to each copy published or offered for saIe in the United States by the proprietor, or with his authority, except in case of books seeking °ad interim) protection. The copyright propnetor may obtain registration of his claim to copyright, after publication with the notice of the claim thereon, by filing promptly with the Register of Copyrights two complete copies of the best edition then published, except in the case where the work is by an author who is a citizen or a subject of a foreign state or nation and has published in a foreign country, in which case one complete copy of the best edition then published in the foreign country may be filed. Should the copyright proprietor after publication with notice fail to file the necessary copies with the Register promptly, the Register may, at any time after publication of the work, upon actual notice, require the copies to •be deposited, and if the demand is made and not complied with within three months from any part of the United States except an outlying territorial possession of the United States, or within six months from any outlying territorial possession of the United States, or from any foreign country, the proprietor of the copyright will be liable to a fine of $100 and to pay to the Library of Congress twice the amount of the retail price of the best edition of the work, and the copyright shall become void.