Page:The copyright act, 1911, annotated.djvu/16

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Copyright Act, 1911.

§1 (1).

written report, and the recording of musical sounds upon a perforated roll or gramophone record constitute in each case the making of an original work, the originality consisting in the new form in which the words or music are produced[1].

All works protected in whatever form they are produced.An important feature of the new Act is that every literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic work is protected without making any specified physical form of production a condition precedent to protection and, indeed, without demanding that the work shall be clothed in any physical form at all. Thus, a literary work will no longer require to be embodied in the form of a "book" before receiving statutory protection, and it may be protected even although it exists only in the form of spoken words which the author has not committed to paper.

Summary of different classes of works specifically protected.The following are the classes of works which are specifically referred to as receiving protection, but the Act is so framed that the list is illustrative and not necessarily exhaustive. The classes of works indicated in italics receive protection for the first time:—

Literary works—
Maps.
Charts.
Plans.
Tables.
Records, perforated rolls, &c.
Lectures—
Addresses.
Speeches.
Sermons.
Dramatic works—
Pieces for recitation.
Choreographic works.
Entertainments in dumb show.
Cinematograph productions.
Records, perforated rolls, &c.
Musical works—
Records, perforated rolls, &c.
Artistic works—
Paintings.

  1. Walker v. Lane, [1900] A. C. 539.