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THE
MUSIC TRADE
THE PROPOSED NEW PATENT LAW AND THE MUSIC TRADE
How Certain Branches of the Industry, for Instance, in Some Lines of Pianos and Player-
Pianos and the Entire Field of Talking Machines Will Be Seriously Affected by Proposed
New Patent Law—Situation Up to Date Analyzed and Discussed by Waldon Fawcett
Specially for The Review—His View of the Situation Interesting and Enlightening.
It is doubtful if any industry in the country
would be so seriously affected as the music trade
should the Congress of the United States pass the
measure now before it to codify, revise and amend
the laws relating to patents. In certain branches
of the industry—for instance, in some lines of
pianos and player-pianos and in the entire field of
talking machines and phonographs—the influence
would be really revolutionary so completely would
it upset existing policies and the present method
of doing business. Moreover, the fact that the
new law, if enacted, will go into effect July 1 next
would allow manufacturers and dealers a very
the bills at this session of the national legislature.
Some of the opponents of the new law have even
suggested that it might be a good thing for the
manufacturers to talk the bills to death by appear-
ing in great numbers at Washington and demand-
ing to be heard by the Committee on Patents ere
the bill is reported to the Senate or House. How-
ever, many of the patent experts, who are on the
ground in behalf of this manufacturing interest, or
that have been reassuring their clients with pre-
dictions that the proposed new law cannot muster
sufficient votes to pass either house of Congress,
or, should this confidence prove unfounded, they
yet have -faith that
P r e s i d e n t Taft
(who while on the
b e n c h rendered
some notable deci-
sions in patent
cases) will veto
the bill.
The general im-
pression in music
trade circles and
elsewhere is that
the present scheme
to revise our pat-
ent laws is the re-
sult of the popular
clamor that fol-
lowed the recent
d e c i s i o n of the
United States Su-
preme Court in
t h e mimeograph
case. This was
U. S. Patent Office, Washington, D. C.
true in one case,
Exclusive new photo of tlie famous building where musical nntents are handled, >n tirst floor of
but not in another.
left wing.
limited (and some think wholly inadequate) time The new bill was being framed as long ago as
to adapt themselves to radically new conditions.
two months before the highest tribunal rendered
That the thinly-veiled menace of this pending its sweeping decision, but, on the other hand, it
bill is fully appreciated by music trade interests is was being framed because the United States Com-
evidenced by the fact that representatives of the missioner of Patents foresaw what was coming.
piano manufacturers and other branches of the trade Just here it may be pointed out that it is the cir-
will appear before the Congressional Committee on cumstance that the United States Commissioner
Patents, which is now conducting at Washington of Patents has so conspicuously had a hand in the
public hearings upon the bill. Indeed, it is per-
framing of this proposed new measure that renders
haps significant that almost the first opponents of
it doubly significant. Any bill that embodies the
the bill who appeared before the committee were
representatives of the Victor Talking Machine Co.
and Edison phonograph interests, respectively, and
they presented in a most forceful manner the ob-
jections • of the manufacturers of sound-reproduc-
ing instruments.
Manufacturers to Oppose Measure.
Other spokesmen for various branches of the
music trades will appear later—some of the man-
ufacturers appearing in person and others being
represented by patent attorneys to whom the task
is delegated by reason of their knowledge of Con-
gressional and Governmental procedure. It is im-
possible to predict how long the hearings will con-
tinue, but with the national political conventions
impending and Congress consequently anxious to
adjourn by the middle of June, it goes without say-
Transcribing the Testimony
ing that the longer this preliminary argument con- (liven by the manufacturers at the Congressional hearing
on the proposed new patent law.
tinues the less chance there is for the passage of
ideas of the head of the United States Patent
Conveying Books and Records
To the headquarters of the U. S. Congressional Committee
on Patents for use at the public hearing on the
proposed new patent law.
Office is, perforce, interesting, and with the weight
of his indorsement behind it the bill will un-
doubtedly have some better prospect of passage
than did it originate in a less authoritative source.
Supreme Court Decision Nullified.
Perhaps the keenest interest in the proposed new
patent law concerns the manner in which it nul-
lifies the effect of the Supreme Court decision in
the mimeograph case. The general interpretation
of that decision was that it empowered any man-
ufacturer to dictate as to what manufactured prod-
ucts or supplies could be used in connection with
any instrument or device covered by his patent
rights, even though that instrument or device had
been purchased outright by an "ultimate con-
sumer." In other words, the logic of this decision
E. B. Moore.
The latest portrait of the U. S. Commissioner of Patents,
who is the real author of the proposed new patent law.
Special pose for The Music Trade Review.
would allow a manufacturer of a patented player
piano to prescribe what make of rolls could be
played on the instrument and would sustain the
manufacturer of a patented talking machine if he
stipulated that only records approved by him should
be played on instruments of his manufacture.
What has particularly aroused the ire of the
Governmental officials and others who are pushing
this new law is that the "license system," which
was thus upheld by the nation's highest tribunal,
may, if ingeniously handled, enable a manufac-
turer to continue to enjoy virtually exclusive rights
with reference to an invention upon which the
basic patents have expired. An illustration of
some of the possibilities in this direction is af-
forded in the talking machine field since the ex-
J. F. MacNab.
Head of the Music Division of the U. S. Patent Office at
his deck. Special pose for The Music Trade Review.
piration of- the Berliner patent. Of course, in any
such case a manufacturer can retain his advanta-
geous system only if he has fortified himself with
patents on improvements that continue in force
after the basic patent has expired, but as this is
a usual condition it may be said that the license
system could, under present conditions, be made to
serve a manufacturer's needs indefinitely.
How the Bill Affects the License System.
The new bill provides that it shall be unlawful to
insert a condition in any contract relating to the
sale, lease or license to use any patented article or
process the effect of which will be to prohibit or
restrict the purchaser or licensee from using such
articles or supplies as he may see fit and which
will not leave him absolutely free to purchase the
accessories and supplies when and where he
chooses. There are some industries in the United
States where this section of the bill, if it becomes
a law, will turn things topsy-turvy, but the music
trade is not one of these. In the musical field
there has been little disposition on the part of
manufacturers to attempt to coerce the purchasing
public. Manufacturers generally have seen the
wisdom of making common cause in educating
musical taste and awakening enthusiasm for music
in all its forms. It would not have been strange
if, in tnc field of mechanical musical instruments,
the manufacturers had been tempted to take ad-
vantage of the means lying ready to hand for
controlling the market, but be it said to their credit
that few of them have shown any such disposition.
On the contrary, the far-sighted manufacturers of
(Continued on page 9.)