use of an unpublished work and to obtain damages therefor, is specifically confirmed (sec. 2), and this applies especially to unregistered manuscripts.
Protection
of unpub-
lished workThe method of registration of an unpublished work to secure playright or performing right, as previously stated, is absolutely simple, consisting solely in the registration of a claim and the deposit of one copy of the work in manuscript or other unpublished form, with a fee of one dollar. The law is clear and satisfactory as to the punishment, after such registration, of infringement of playright or performing right, but it is not clear as to the date from which such protection starts, and whether protection is for an indeterminate period up to publication (practically in perpetuity if no publication be made) , or for the statutory term. This is because the relations of publication and first performance are inferences only and specifically defined in the law. The Copyright Office issues a certificate for twenty-eight years, but without reference to initial date, which would be presumably the date of the certificate. The Copyright Office will doubtless, under this precedent, issue renewal certificate for the second term of twenty-eight years. The trend, and in several instances the letter of the law, shows publication to mean the multiplication or reproduction of printed or other copies and their public offering, sale and distribution, and indicate that performance, whether privately or publicly and for profit, is not publication. The new Copyright Office Rules specifically hold that: "Representation on the stage of a play is not a publication of it, nor is the public performance of a musical composition publication." Judicial decisions on this point both in England and this country are confusing if not contradictory. In the absence of specific provision in the law for renewal of term in unpublished works, the
