The second prerequisite to copyright protection is the deposit in the Copyright Office of two copies of the book whose title-page has been recorded. These copies must be printed from "type set within the limits of the United States," and the deposit must be made "not later than the day of publication thereof, in this or any foreign country." The stipulation as to American typesetting applies to works by American authors as well as to those written by foreign authors.
The statute provides, as regards both the printed title and the printed copies, that the articles are to be delivered at the office of the Librarian of Congress, or "deposited in the mail, within the United States, addressed to the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C." Just what would be held to have been secured under the latter provision in case the deposit in the mail were made and the book failed to reach the Copyright Office has not been determined by judicial decision. The law provides for the giving of a receipt by the postmaster in the case of the title and the copies, if such receipt is requested.
The third step required for obtaining a defendable copyright is to print upon the title-page or the page immediately following it in each copy of the book the statutory notice of copyright. The form of this notice must be either "Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year ——, by A. B., in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington;" or, "Copyright, 19——, by A. B." The name printed in this notice must be the real, legal name of the proprietor of the copyright, and must be the same as that in which the entry of title has been made; the date, also, must be the year date of the record of the filing of the title-page. A judicial decision is on record to the effect that printing the year date in this notice one year later than the date of actual recording of title barred the defence of the copyright. A penalty of $100 is imposed on "every person who shall insert or impress such notice, or words of the same purport in or upon any book ... whether subject to copyright or otherwise, for which he has not obtained a copyright."
An American author may obtain for his book copyright protection in Great Britain, by a compliance with the official instructions as to publication, deposit of copies and registration. The protection, under English law, dates from the day of first publication, but such first publication must be on English territory, and registration may follow, but cannot precede publication. The term of protection in the United States, on the contrary, dates from the day of registration of title in our Copyright Office, which must precede publication, and be followed by deposit of copies made "not later than the day of publication thereof in this or any foreign country." The point to guard, therefore, is simultaneous publication in this country and in Great Britain. Registration in England is a secondary matter. As stated in the official circulars of instructions issued by the English Copyright Office, "Copyright is created by the statute, and does not depend upon registration, which is permissive only, and not compulsory, but no proprietor of copyright in any book can take any proceedings in respect of any infringement of his copyright unless he has, before commencing his proceedings, registered his book."
Under existing legal conditions, in order to secure valid copyright on a book in this country and in England, the following steps should be taken, and in the order stated. 1. Record title in the United States Copyright Office. 2. Print book from type set within the limits of the United States. 3. Deposit two copies of such book in the United States Copyright Office. 4. Send sufficient copies to London to
a. Place copies on sale and take such usual steps as are understood, under English law, to constitute "publication" on a prearranged day, on which same day the book is published in the United States.
b. Deposit copies: one copy of the best edition at the British Museum, and four copies of the usual edition at Stationers' Hall for distribution to the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the University Library at Cambridge, the Faculty of Advocates Library at Edinburgh, and the Trinity College Library at Dublin.
c. Register title of book and day of first publication at Stationers' Hall, London.
7. The United States Copyright Office.
One frequently hears the expressions "has obtained a copyright," "issued a copyright," etc., giving the impression that copyrights can be granted somewhat after the manner in which the Patent Office issues letters-patent. But Congress has established no office authorized to furnish any such guarantee of literary property as is done in the case of patent monopoly. The Copyright Office is purely an office of record and simply registers claims to copyright. The form of record prescribed by law being the effect that A. B. "hath deposited the title of a book the right whereof he claims as author or proprietor in conformity with the laws of the United States respecting copyrights." The Copyright Office has no authority to question any claim as to authorship or proprietorship, nor can it determine between conflicting claims. It registers the claim presented in the prescribed form for a proper subject of copyright by any person legally entitled to such registration without investigation as to the truthfulness of the representations, and would be obliged to record, not only the same title for different books, but the same title for the same work on behalf of two or more different persons, even against the protest of either one, were such registrations asked for. No examination is therefore made when a title reaches the office as to whether the same or a similar title has been used before. As I have already stated, the title per se is not subject to copyright, and no one can secure a monopoly of the use of a title by merely having it recorded at a nominal fee at the Copyright Office.
If any one, wishing to use a given form of title but desiring to avoid possible duplication of one previously used, writes to the Copyright Office asking whether such a title has already been recorded, an answer is made stating what is disclosed by the indexes of the office. It must be frankly explained, however, that an absolutely conclusive statement as to whether a given title has been previously used cannot always be given. The copyright records of entries of title previous to July 10, 1870, are but indifferently indexed and rarely by title, usually only under names of proprietors of the copyright. The copyright entries since July 10, 1870, to May 31, 1901, number 1,217,075. The index to these entries consists of more than 600,000 cards, many of which contain a number of entries. These cards index the entries primarily under the names of the proprietors of the copyright, and this proprietor's index is understood to have been kept up continuously and to be complete, so that under the name of each copyright proprietor there is a card or cards showing the titles of all articles upon which copyright is claimed. In addition to the proprietor's index there are cards under the titles of periodicals and under the leading catchwords of the titles of other articles, besides cards under the authors' names for books. Unhappily there are periods of time when what may be called the subsidiary index cards were not kept up.