down to, but not including the word "accompanied," in lines 5 and
6, should be canceled, and the words "with the date of entry of
the copyright" should be inserted.
The notice of copyright must be clear and in such usual words, not
signs which hardly anyone will understand, as are intelligible to
the public. I consider it highly important that the date of
copyright, including the year, month, and day, should appear in
the notice, and also the name of the person by whom the original
entry is made in the copyright office. The indexes will be kept by
these names, and any subsequent entry or transfer should always be
indexed under such original names. These remarks apply also to
sections 44 and 45 hereafter considered.
In line 10, after "some," the words "uncovered and" should be
inserted.
In line 13, after "name," the words "as in the original entry of
copyright" should be inserted.
Line 19, the word "its" should be changed to "the," and in line
20, after "following," the words "of each separate volume" should
be inserted; and in line 24, after "accessible," the word
"uncovered" should be inserted.
Page 11, line 3 should be stricken out or amended to cure its
indefiniteness as to the meaning of the word "composite."
In line 4, the word "musical" should be changed to
"musical-dramatic."
It has never been intended by the copyright law to use the word
"performance," excepting of such works as are only useful when
represented or "performed" in a dramatic sense. The word
"dramatic" has not always seemed sufficiently broad, and the words
"musical composition" have often been added to include operas,
oratorios, and musical works that are not purely dramatic, and yet
are partially so. It is submitted that it has never been the
intention of the law to make the mere singing of a song from
copyrighted notes that have been paid for, or the playing of
music, infringements of copyright, and it is believed that this
section will carry out the full intent of the law if the word
"dramatic" be coupled with the word "musical," as above indicated.
In view of the use of the word "performance" in other parts of
this bill for the purpose of including the use of automatic
mechanical devices, it should be made clear that the word
"performance," in line 5, has nothing beyond its ordinary
significance. I suggest that this can best be attained by striking
out the word "performance," in line 5, and inserting the word
"representation."