Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1916)

122 Hints for Scenario Writers typewriting of the work, with the notice of copyright as provided above, the owner shall promptly deposit in the copyright office or mail to the register of copyrights, Washington, District of Columbia, a complete copy of the scenario, together with one print taken from each scene or act, each to be accompanied by a claim of copyright. Xo action or proceeding would be maintained for infringement of copyright in any work until the provisions of deposit of copies and registration of such work shall have been complied with. Section twenty-five provides that if any person shall infringe the copyright in any work protected under the copyright laws of the United States, such person shall be liable (a) to an injunction restraining infringement, and (b) to pay to the copyright proprietor such damages as the latter may have suffered, due to the infringement, as well as all the profits which the infringer shall have made from such infringement, and in proving profits the plaintiff shall be required to prove sales only, and the defendant shall be required to prove every element of cost which he claims, or, in lieu of actual damages and profits, such damages as to the court shall appear to be just; and in assessing such damages, the court may, in its discretion, allow the following amounts : In the case of the infringement of an undramatized or nondramatic work, or scenario, by means of motion pictures, where the infringer shall show that he was not aware that he was infringing, and that such infringement could have been reasonably foreseen, such damages shall not exceed the sum of one hundred dollars ; in the case of a copyrighted dramatic or dramatico-musical work or scenario by a maker of motion pictures and his agencies for distribution thereof to exhibitors, where such infringer shows that he was not aware that he was infringing a copyrighted work, and that such infringements could not reasonably have been foreseen, the entire sum of such damages recoverable by the copyright proprietor from such infringing maker and his agencies for distribution to exhibitors of such infringing motion picture shall not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, nor be less thar two hundred and fifty dollars, and such damages shall in no other case exceed five thousand dollars, or be less than two hundred and fifty dollars. This is not to be regarded as a penalty, and the exceptions shall not deprive the copyright proprietor of any other remedy given him under the copyright law, nor shall the limitation as to the amount of recovery apply to infringements occurring after the actual notice to a defendant, either by service or process in a suit or other written notice served upon him. The court may allow one hundred dollars for the first, and fifty dollars for every subsequent infringing performance. ANSWERS TO READERS. R. A. Doud. — In an early issue — perhaps the next — this magazine will carry a sample scenario which will be of the multiple-reel variety. By studying this script, you will be able to learn just what the difference between a onereeler and a longer scenario is. L. Z. Hauteaux, New Bedford, Massachusetts. — We nave a list of all the film companies, which we will send upon receipt of a self-addressed, stamped envelope. This will give you the information you desire in regard to the studios in New York City. If you write these studios, and state just why you wish to visit them, telling what experience you have had, and what your ambitions are, we believe everything would be made agreeable for you. It is our honest opinion, however, that more knowledge can be gained by studying the screen than by visiting the studios. If you follow our department closely,