Proclamation—Copyright-Netherlands

Whereas, it is provided by the Act of Congress approved March 4, 1909 (35 Stat. L. 1075) entitled "An Act to Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright," that the provisions of Section 1 (e) of said Act, "so far as they secure copyright controlling the parts of instruments serving to reproduce mechanically the musical work, shall include only compositions published and copyrighted after this Act goes into effect, and shall not include the works of a foreign author or composer unless the foreign state or nation of which such author or composer is a citizen or subject grants, either by treaty, convention, agreement, or law, to citizens of the United States similar rights

And, whereas, it is further provided that the copyright secured by the Act shall extend to the work of an author or proprietor who is a citizen or subject of a foreign state or nation, only upon certain conditions set forth in Section 8 of said Act, to-wit:

(a) When an alien author or proprietor shall be domiciled within the United States at the time of the first publication of his work; or

(b) When the foreign state or nation of which such author or proprietor is a citizen or subject grants, either by treaty, convention, agreement, or law, to citizens of the United States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to its own citizens, or copyright protection substantially equal to the protection secured to such foreign author under this Act or by treaty; or when such foreign state or nation is a party to an international agreement which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States may, at its pleasure, become a party thereto;

And, whereas, it is also provided by said Section that "the existence of the reciprocal conditions aforesaid shall be determined by the President of the United States, by proclamation made from time to time, as the purposes of this Act may require;"

And, whereas, the President of the United States in a Proclamation dated April 9, 1910 (36 Stat. L. 2685), proclaimed that subjects of the Netherlands since July 1, 1909, have been entitled to all the benefits of the Copyright Act approved March 4, 1909, other than the benefits under Section 1 (e) thereof;

And, whereas, the Government of the Netherlands declared on October 2, 1922, that under the laws in force in that country "citizens of the United States may claim copyright in the Netherlands and possessions with respect to their musical works made or published for the first time since the date of this declaration, which copyright includes the exclusive right to manufacture rolls, discs, and other objects for the mechanical reproduction of a work in whole or in part, as well as the exclusive right to give public representations or executions by means of these instruments, and this independently of the fact tlhat these instruments have been made either in the Netherlands and possessions or in the United States of America or elsewhere;"

Now, Therefore, I, Warren G. Harding, President of the United States of America, do declare and proclaim that one of the alternative conditions specified in Sections 1 (e) and 8 (b) of the Act of March 4, 1909, was fulfilled in respect to the subjects of the Netherlands on October 2, 1922, and that the subjects of the Netherlands from and after that date shall be entitled to all the benefits of the said Act, including copyright controlling the parts of instruments serving to reproduce mechanically a musical work, as provided in Section I (e) of the said Act, in the case of all works by the Netherlands authors which have been published on or after October 2, 1922, and have obtained copyright in accordance with the laws of the United States.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and forty-seventh.

WARREN G. HARDING

By the President:
CHARLES E. HUGHES, Secretary of State.