United States Senate, Committee on the Judiciary

“ As a class of subject matter, sound recordings are clearly within the scope of the “writings of an author” capable of protection under the Constitution, and the extension of limited statutory protection to them too long delayed. Aside from cases in which sounds are fixed by some purely mechanical means without originality of any kind, the copyright protection that would prevent the reproduction and distribution of unauthorized phonorecords of sound recordings is clearly justified. ”

“ The Statutory Fee As A Ceiling Or As An Established Rate.—One of the principal arguments of the copyright owners was that, in contrast to record manufacturers whose prices are not fixed and who are not obliged to pay copyright owners any minimum amount, the authors and publishers are deprived of any right to bargain above the two-cent ceiling. They stress that the statutory rate is merely a maximum: the record manufacturer can also negotiate for less, but the copyright owner can never ask for more. ”

“ Two basic and well-established principles of copyright law are restated in section 201 (a) : that the source of copyright ownership is the author of the work, and that, in the case of a “joint work,” the coauthors of the work are likewise coowners of the copyright. Under the definition of section 101, a work is “joint” if the authors collaborated with each other, or if each of the authors prepared his contribution with the knowlodge and intension that it would be merged with the contributions of other authors as “inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole.” ”

“ Noting that record company sales continue to mount to new highs each year—increasing from 1964–1974 more than twice as much as royalty collections, despite steep price increases and a faltering economy—they see no reason why an industry which has more than doubled the price per recorded selection over the last decade should be excused from paying fair compensation to those who created the music. ”

“ A library that has acquired ownership of a copy is entitled to lend it under any conditions it chooses to impose. This does not mean that conditions on future disposition of copies or phonorecords, imposed by a contract between their buyer and seller, would be unenforceable between the parties as a breach of contract, but it does mean that they could not be enforced by an action for infringement of copyright. Under section 202, however, the owner of the physical copy or phonorecord cannot reproduce or perform the copyrighted work publicly without the copyright owner’s consent. ”

“ As long as a work fits within one of the general subject matter categories of sections 102 and 103, the bill prevents the States from protecting it even if it fails to achieve Federal statutory copyright because it is too minimal or lacking in originality to qualify, or because it has fallen into the public domain. On the other hand, the 1965 bill implicitly preserved common law copyright protection for one important class of works: works that have not been “fixed in any tangible medium of expression.” ”

“ Common law copyright protection for works coming within the scope of the statute would be abrogated, and the concept of publication would lose its all-embracing importance as a dividing line between common law and statutory protection and between both of these forms of legal protection and the public domain. ”

“ A “transmission program” is a body of material that, as an aggregate, has been produced for the sole purpose of transmission to the public in sequence and as a unit. To “transmit” a performance or display is to communicate it by any device or process whereby images or sounds are received beyond the place from which they are sent. The “United States,” when used in a geographical sense, comprises the several States, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the organized territories under the jurisdiction of the United States Government. ”

“ To “display” a work means to show a copy of it, either directly or by means of a film, slide, television image, or any other device or process or, in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to show individual images nonsequentially. A work is “fixed” in a tangible medium of expression when its embodiment in a copy or phonorecord, by or under the authority of the author, is sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration. ”

“ A design patent may not be issued until a search has been made to determine that such design possesses novelty. The design patent law, while affording protection to some designs, has proved adequate to protect those whose designs have only a short life expectancy.
The present copyright statute is equally inappropriate for the protection of such designs. The term of copyright protection is too long for the majority of designs. The scope of copyright protection is too broad, while the notice and registration requirements do not fit the needs of design protection. ”

“ The term “compilation” includes collective works. “Copies” are material objects, other than phonorecords, in which a work is fixed by any method now known or later developed, and from which the work can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. The term “copies” includes the material object, other than a phonorecord, in which the work is first fixed. “Copyright owner” with respect to any one of the exclusive rights comprised in a copyright, refers to the owner of that particular right. ”

“ A very large majority of the world’s countries have adopted a copyright term of the life of the author and 50 years after his death. Since American authors are frequently protected longer in foreign countries than in the United States, the disparity in the duration of copyright has provoked considerable resentment and some proposals for retaliatory legislation. Copyrighted works move across national borders faster and more easily than virtually any other economic commodity, and with the techniques now in common use this movement has in many cases become instantaneous and effortless. ”

“ In a case where the copyright owner sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that infringement was committed willfully, the court in its discretion may increase the award of statutory damages to a sum of not more than $50,000. In a case where the infringer sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that he was not aware and had no reason to believe that his acts constituted an infringement of copyright, the court in its discretion may reduce the award of statutory damages to a sum of not less than $100. ”

“ In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, plan, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work. ”

“ Under the provisions of section 208 a retailer who does not himself induce the manufacture or importation of an infringing article need not concern himself with whether or not any given item infringes a protected design. The retailer is under no duty to find out. Even if a retailer has knowledge that an article infringes a design when he buys it, this places no additional burden on him. In any event, a retailer may dispose of all stock on hand or on order at the times he receives notice of the protection of a design. ”

“ The scope and impact of the “manufacturing clause,” which came into the copyright law as a compromise in 1891, have been gradually narrowed by successive amendments. The basis problem is still unresolved.
Under the present statute, with many exceptions and qualifications, a book or periodical in the English language must be manufactured in the United States in order to receive full coypright protection. Failure to comply with any of the complicated requirements can result in complete loss of protection. Today the main efforts of the manufacturing requirements are on works by American authors. ”

“ In other words, where a broadcaster has the privilege of performing or displaying a work either because he is licensed or because the performance or display is exempted under the statute, the question is whether he should be given the additional privilege of recording the performance or display to facilitate its transmission. The need for a limited exemption in these cases because of the practical exigencies of broadcasting has been generally recognized, but the scope of the exemption has been a controversial issue. ”

“ Acquisition of an object embodying a copyrighted work by rental, lease, loan, or bailment carries with it no privileges to dispose of the copy under section 109 (a) or to display it publicly under section 109 (b) . To cite a familiar example, a person who has rented a print of a modern picture from the copyright owner would have no right to rent it to someone else without the owner’s permission. ”

“ A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more pre-existing works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgement, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work.” ”