Document Type

Transcript

Publication Date

5-2-1906

Abstract

CHAIRMAN. The bill seeks to amend section 4966 of the Revised Statutes, which in the original text is as follows:

Any person publicly performing or representing any dramatic composition for which a copyright has been obtained, without the consent of the proprietor thereof, or his heirs or assigns, shall be liable for damages therefor, such damages in all cases to be assessed at such sum, not less than one hundred dollars· for the first and fifty dollars for every subsequent performance, as to the court shall appear to be just.

On January 6, 1897, section 4966 was amended to read as follows:

SEC. 4966. Any person publicly performing or representing any dramatic or musical composition for which a copyright has been obtained, without the consent of the proprietor of said dramatic or musical composition, or his heirs or assigns, shall be liable for damages therefor, such damages in all cases to be assessed at such sum, not less than one hundred dollars for the first and fifty dollars for every subsequent performance, as to the court shall appear to be just. If the unlawful performance and representation be willful and for profit, such person or persons shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction be imprisoned for a period not exceeding one year. Any injunction that may be granted upon hearing after notice to the defendant by any circuit court in the United States, or by a judge thereof, restraining and enjoining the performance or representation of any such dramatic or musical composition may be served on the parties against whom such injunction may be granted anywhere in the United States, and shall be operative and may be enforced by proceedings to punish for contempt or otherwise by any other circuit judge or judge in the United States; but the defendants in said action, or any or either of them, may make a motion in any other circuit in which he or they may be engaged in performing or representing said dramatic or musical composition to dissolve or set aside the said injunction upon such reasonable notice to the plaintiff as the circuit court or the judge before whom said motion shall be made shall deem proper; service of said motion to be made on the plaintiff in person or on his attorneys in the action. The circuit courts or judges thereof shall have jurisdiction to enforce said injunction and to hear and determine a motion to dissolve the same, as herein provided, as fully as if the action were pending or brought In the circuit in which said motion is made.

The clerk of the court, or judge granting the injunction, shall, when required so to do by the court hearing the application to dissolve or enforce said Injunction, transmit without delay to said court a certified copy of all the papers on which the said Injunction was granted that are on file in his office.

That, I understand, is as the law now stands.

[Witnesses for and against the revision were invited to comment.]

Comments

Part F

H. R. 11943

TO AMEND TITLE 60, CHAPTER 3,
OF THE REVISED STATUTES OF THE UNITED STATES
RELATING TO COPYRIGHTS.

MAY 2, 1906

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