The bill comes before you with precisely that presumption to which its history entitles it--no less, but no more.
The conference had certain aids prepared in advance by the copyright office, which were embraced in these particular publications, setting forth the present law in this country and all previous enactments in this country--a bibliography, indeed, of all bills introduced into Congress, all amendments of the copyright laws, and the laws in foreign countries so far as they could be epitomized.
The conferences occupied eleven days in all, of twenty-two sessions--two sessions a day. Their labors are evidenced by these four volumes, which are the stenographer's record of the proceedings. The sincerity of their endeavor to secure a result that should be scientific yet conservative, is, perhaps, evidenced by the brevity of the bill. The memorandum of last November contains some 16,000 words; that of March contains some 11,000 words; the bill contains slightly over 8,000 words. I believe that the present group of statutes embodying the existing law will contain somewhat over 4,000 words; and they are alleged to be imperfect and neither systematic nor organic.
The bill attempts to be both. It is, as you see, divided into eight chapters, with some supplementary miscellaneous provisions. I say that it is divided into chapters--that is, recited in the contents of the bill as printed officially and set forth in marginal references in the bill as printed at the Library. These chapters deal with the nature and extent of copyright, the subject-matter of copyright, who may obtain copyright, how to secure it, the duration of it, the protection and the transfer of copyright, and the copyright office.
I have furnished to your committee some analysis of it. That analysis is contained in the printed statement marked "Memorandum," of which there are additional copies here dated June 5, including those before you, containing some slight changes from those sent out to members of your committee. I would ask to have this one, dated on the outside June 5, considered the recent one.
(The memorandum above referred to was, by direction of the committee, made a part of the record, and the same is as follows:)