The composer of music never conceives nor produces, and never did in respect of the actual composition, conceive or produce, any means for conveying to the ear the musical composition. On the contrary, all such means from the beginning to the present time are the direct result, not of authorship, not of composition, but of invention. The composer never conceives the idea of a mechanical means for playing a piece of music. That achievement is the result of the effort of the inventor. The Constitution makes no distinction in respect of right of protection as between an author and an inventor, but both are coequal under the Constitution, and the line or field within which each may be protected is clearly marked out in the Constitution, the result of authorship being distinctly distinguished from the result of invention. The author is restricted by the Constitution to protection for "writings" and the inventor to "discoveries."
The courts have determined what may properly come within the constitutional provision of discoveries, and it has been determined a number of times that under the constitutional provision a writing does not include a mechanical contrivance. If the law under discussion be enacted it will operate to take away from the inventor the rights which are vouchsafed to him by the Constitution and by the laws of Congress enacted in pursuance thereof, and deliver his rights over to the author or composer of a literary production or a musical composition. Such a procedure would clearly annihilate the inventor, offering him up as a sacrifice to the author or composer. The Constitution intended no such thing, and in matter of every right, irrespective of the limitations provided by the Constitution, Congress ought not to pass a law which turns the inventor over to the mercy of the author or composer.
It is needless to mention to this committee the unprecedented state of prosperity and material progress attained by this country as the direct result of invention. In all arts the work of the inventor will be found at the foundation of the progress and prosperity of the country. The author or composer has to do more with the pleasure or esthetics of life, the inventor with the real necessities, and in the art allied to the fine arts has had to do with placing throughout the United States in the possession of the common people everywhere the means by which the composer as composer can never give them. It is not for a moment intended to detract from the value of the work of the author or composer, for his work is valuable, but its value has certain limitations, and these limitations are defined in the Constitution and acts of Congress heretofore passed in pursuance thereof.