ABSTRACT
The laws respecting copyrights must now be gathered from a large number of acts. Fourteen acts relating to ·~opyrights have been passed since the Revised Statutes of 1873.
The first copyright statute ever passed in this country was passed by ihe legislature of Connecticut in 1783 at the solicitation of Noah Webster, who desired copyright protection for his spelling book. It is said that Mr. \-Vebster then traveled from State to State and induced 12 of the 13 States-all except Delaware-to enact similar statutes. ~'hen the convention met and framed the Constitution of the United States copyright laws existed in 12 of the 13 States, but the requirements for the registration of copyrights differed greatly, making it burdensome to an author seekiiig to protect his work. The need of a law which would be effective in all the States was so apparent that a provision was incorporated in the Constitution, as follows:
Last year another conference was held at Berlin, and the following signatory states were represented: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, Monaco, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Tunis. The United States has never been a party to any of these conventions, although at the Berlin conference this conntry, with a number of others, had delegates present to make observations, but with no power to vote or take part m the discussions. A new convention was there agreed upon and signed by the representatives of the states of the countries belonging to the copyright union. Article 13 of that convention rPcommendS for adoption by the countries of the union the granting to authors of musical works of the exclusive right to control the reproductions of their compositions by mechanical means, but provides that-
And it is further provided in that article that the provision shall have no retroactive effect. The provision has no effect whatever in any country of the union until that <'ountry decides to pass the necessary legislation.
