The law of motion pictures (1918)

652 THE LAW OF MOTION PICTURES This rule as to public performance for profit applies with equal force to performances rendered by mechanical reproduction; for the language in Section one, subdivision (e) governing the compulsory licensing of musical compositions for mechanical purposes, explicitly excepts from its provisions public performance for profit. The language of the last paragraph of Section one permits the use of coin-operated machines, but again prohibits such use where an admission fee is charged to the place where the machines are operated. It is plainly the intent of Congress to prohibit the performance of a musical composition for profit without the consent of the owner of the copyright. The rule of liability for unlicensed public performance for profit of copyrighted music is the same as that for the infringement of any other copyrighted work.13 right notice it may fairly be inferred that he had written the work for the purpose of securing all the rights attainable under the Copyright Act including the exclusive right publicly to perform it for profit. “But the controversy goes deeper than a mere matter of pleading, for I am entirely satisfied that a semi-colon should precede the words ‘and for the purpose of a public performance for profit.’ This is borne out by a reading of the committee reports and the reading of the statute. See Tyrrell v. The Mayor (1899), 159 N. Y. 239; 53 N. E. 1111, as to the rules of construction where punctuation is involved. If the semi-colon is not inserted at the place above indicated, subdivision e of section 1 does not seem to make sense. “Eliminating the semi-colon the most, however, that the section amounts to is a protection in favor of those persons who do not perform publicly for profit the musical composition — ■ 13 See Section 163.