intention, and (3) payment of royalty of 2 1/2 or 5 per cent with a minimum of a halfpenny for each record, or in the case of different works on the same record, to each copyright proprietor.
The Berne
situation,
1886When the international representatives met at Berne in 1886, the mechanical reproduction of music was confined chiefly if not wholly to Swiss musicboxes and orchestrions and to hand-organs, of comparatively little commercial importance; and, possibly with some thought of the recognition of the hospitality of Switzerland, little emphasis was placed on the protection of musical composers against mechanical reproduction of their works. In fact, the final protocol of the Berne Convention of 1886 contained, as clause 3, the following paragraph: "It is understood that the manufacture and sale of instruments for the mechanical reproduction of musical airs which are copyright, shall not be considered as constituting an infringement of musical copyright."
Lack of
action at
Paris, 1896Despite strong representations at the congresses of the International Association for the protection of literary property, held at London in 1890, Neufchitel in 1891, and Milan in 1892, and a vigorous endeavor in connection with the Paris convention of 1896 to replace this clause, it was not modified until the convention of Berlin in 1908, in preparation for which a strong resolution was passed at the congress of the International Association at Vevey in 1901.
The Berlin
provision,
1908With the increasing development of the phonograph and of the mechanical player, mechanical reproductions became so important a matter to musical composers and publishers, that much of the discussion in respect to the amendatory convention of Berlin of 1908 was upon this subject. In the amended convention, the subject was fully covered by article 13:
"Authors of musical works have the exclusive right
