Mr. CURRIER. You could hardly set the right up at auction, could you?
Mr. SCOTT. I am sorry to say it is very often done.
Mr. CHANEY. Would you not think that would give the publisher an undue advantage over the author?
Mr. SCOTT. I think the law as it is at present framed is very broad. I only wish to say now that I think the publisher ought to be consulted. I suppose this will come up later, and I have not prepared any argument on the subject. I am only pleading that the publisher ought to have some consideration under those circumstances.
Mr. CHANEY. Can not the publisher provide against all that by the contract he makes?
Mr. SCOTT. There will be no trouble about the copyrights taken out after the passage of this bill. It is only with reference to copyrights that are now in existence.
Mr. BONYNGE. You think the language of the bill as it is is too broad?
Mr. SCOTT. I think so. I think I should not have made it, myself, quite so broad.
The other point I wish to make is with reference to the publication of the American copyright notice in editions of an American copyright work which are published abroad. What the gentleman has said might be very true if the matter were always within the control of the publisher of the American edition, but, as you will readily see, it is not always within his control. These books are very often written by a foreign author. The contracts of the foreign author, for instance, in the case of English novels, are made with his own publisher in London. They have their own arrangement between themselves as to what notice shall be put in the book. The American publisher is forced to place in his own books published in this country the American copyright notice, but he has no control as to what notice shall be placed upon books published in Germany, or in France, or in Spain, or in Russia, or in England. It is entirely beyond his control.
Mr. CHANEY. Would you think the terms of this bill, then, are right?
Mr. SCOTT. I should say the terms of this bill are right. It seems to me it is perfectly possible for anyone desiring to reprint a book in the United States to ascertain whether or not it is copyrighted. Indeed, the general facts about any book which is so important that anyone wishes to reprint it are notorious. It is known or it can be easily ascertained whether the book is published in the United States and whether it is copyrighted in the United States or not. And I do not think that anyone should be able to get hold of a single copy, whether printed abroad or printed in the United States, that does not happen to have the copyright notice, and be permitted to go ahead and reprint the book _ad libitum_. I think the rights of the owner would not be sufficiently protected if that were permitted.