.AMERICAN COPYRIGHT LAW-.
, Bearing in mind that the invitation to- the United States to join the International Copyright Union expires this year, the number of American publishers and authors, including representatives of the Authors' League, appeared before the House Committee on Patents during the week to urge the early passage of the Vestal Bill. This Bill provides for the revision of the existing American copyright law, and specific- ally authorizes the President to effect the adherence of the United States to the Union. All the witnesses deplored the present position, in which America stands outside the Union, but at the same time there was general agreement that entry into the Union without a simultaneous revision of the American copyright laws would be unfair to American authors. It would mean that automatic copyright in America would be granted to foreign authors while still denied to Americans. Accord- ingly, the Vestal Bill proposes to establish automatic copy- right in America. It would also enable the authors to sell separately various rights, all of which would be adequately protected. In other respects the American law would be brought into line with the British Law: Whether the Bill will be passed this year, however, is doubtful, in view of the present congestion of Congressional business.
* * *
Previous page
