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New Directions in US-USSR Copyright Relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2017

Peter B. Maggs
Peter B. Maggs*
Affiliation:
University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign.
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Extract

On February 27, 1973, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics indicated its intention to accede to the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC). Soon thereafter, Soviet copyright legislation was substantially amended. Many of the consequences of Soviet accession to the UCC and of the new Soviet copyright legislation could be deduced immediately from the relevant provisions of Soviet and American law and the UCC itself. Nevertheless, many completely erroneous analyses of the legal significance of the Soviet action were published in the press of the United States and Western Europe. How the USSR would implement its copyright policy

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , July 1974 , pp. 391 - 409
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1974

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References

1 “Soviet Union Joins Copyright Nations,” New York Times, May 28, 1973, at 6.

2 Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR (Gazette of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR), 1973, No. 9, item 138 (hereinafter cited as Soviet Copyright Amendments).

3 A thorough and correct analysis of the Soviet-American copyright situation, based upon English-language sources, was completed by an American lawyer soon after the Soviet declaration of accession to the UCC. Baumgarten, J., U.S.-U.S.S.R. Copyright Relations Under the Universal Copyright Convention (1973)Google Scholar. The most comprehensive treatise on Soviet copyright law is Loeber, D. A., Urheberrecht der Sowjetunion (1966)Google Scholar. Soviet commentary on recent developments may be found in Boguslavskii, M. M., “Novoe v sovetskom avtorskom prave,” (New Developments in Soviet Copyright Law), Sovetskoe Gosudarstvo I Pravo (Soviet State and Law), 1973, No. 7, at 56 Google Scholar.

4 Later parts of this paper will deal with some of the misconceptions which appeared in many, though not all, of the newspaper articles on the subject published during 1973. Most of the articles emphasized what the authors saw as the dangers of Soviet use of copyright to censor American publication of Soviet works. A Astrachan, “Concern Voiced in U.S. at Soviet Copyright Law,” Washington Post, March 23, 1973, at A14; A. Astrachan, “Soviets Join Copyright System,” Washington Post, March 1, 1973, at H I ; “Authors, Publishers Deplore Soviet Moves to Curb Dissident Writers by Copyright Laws,” Publishers Weekly, March 26, 1973, at 47–48; Bethell, N. , “Authors’ Rights, or Authors’ Wronged,” The Times, March 2, 1973 Google Scholar; Gamson, R., “Moscow’s Copyright Maneuver,” New Leader, May 14, 1973, at 11–13 Google Scholar; Gruliow, L., “Soviet Copyright Loopholes Eyed,” Christian Science Monitor, March 23, 1973 Google Scholar; Gruliow, L., “Soviets Ready Participation in World Copyright,” Christian Science Monitor, March 12, 1973 Google Scholar; “Moscow Amends Law on Copyright: Outflow of Dissident Writing Is Apparent Target,” New York Times, March 18, 1973, at 5; “A Moscow Move To Restrict Publication,” Wall Street Journal, March 16, 1973; “Reverse Copyright,” New York Times, March 21, 1973; “Russians and Copyright—A Welcome Move, But a Host of Questions Remain,” Publishers Weekly, March 12, 1973, at 32–33; Saxon, W., “U.S. Authors Ask a Bar to Soviet: Seek To Block Copyright Actions in U.S. Courts,” New York Times, March 25, 1973, at 17 Google Scholar; Schwartz, A., “Russian Roulette,” New York Times, March 10, 1973, at 29 Google Scholar; Smith, H., “6 Soviet Intellectuals Warn of Danger in Moscow’s Acceptance of World Copyright Law,” New York Times, March 28, 1973, at 15 Google Scholar.

5 Instruktsiia o poriadke primeneniia znaka okhrana avtorskogo prava na proizvedeniiakh literatury, nauki i iskusstva, izdavaemykh v SSSR (Instructions on the Procedure for the Use of the Copyright Protection Symbol on Productions of Literature, Science and Art Published in the U.S.S.R.), approved by Order No. 153 of the Chairman of the State Committee on Matters of Publishing Houses, Printing and the Book Trade, March 28, 1973, Biulleten’ normativnykh aktov ministerstv i vedomstv SSSR (Bulletin of Normative Acts of Ministries and Departments of the U.S.S.R.), 1973, No. 7, at 44; O podokhodnom naloge s summ, vyplachivaemykh za izdanie, ispolnenie ili inoe ispol’zovanie proizvedenii nauki, literatury i iskustva (On the Income Tax on Amounts Paid for the Publication, Performance or Other Use of Works of Science, Literature and Art), Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR (Gazette of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.), 1973, No. 37, item 497; Shabad, T., “Soviet Increases Tax for Authors,” New York Times, Sept. 28, 1973, at 6 Google Scholar; “Vo Vsesoiuznom agenstve po avtorskim pravam” (At the All-Union Copyright Agency), Izvestiia, Dec. 27, 1973, at 2, col. 7 (this article is an informal summary of a decree the official text of which is reported to me by a Soviet colleague to have appeared in Sobranie postanovlenii Souiza SSR (Collection of Decrees of the U.S.S.R.), 1973, No. 24, item 139); “O stavkakh i poriadke vyplaty avtorskogo gonorara” (On the Rates and Procedures for Payment of Authors’ Royalties), Izvestiia, Feb. 20, 1974, at 3, col. 1.

6 Supra note 4.

7 Supra note 3.

8 Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR (Gazette of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.), 1973, No. 40, item 564.

9 21 UN GAOR Supp. 16, at 52–58 (1966) (A/6316).

10 Berman, H. J. & Garson, J. R., United States Export Controls—Past, Present and Future, 67 Colum. L. Rev. 791 (1967)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Maggs, P. , Der nicht militarische Geheimschutz nach Sowjetrecht, 11 Ost-Europa Recht 161 (1965)Google Scholar.

12 Loeber, D. A., Samizdat Under Soviet Law, Index, Autumn 1973, at 3 Google Scholar.

13 “Vo Vsesouiznom agenstve,” supra note 5.

14 “Petrov, Yanov-Geronskii,” Izvestiia, July 9, 1961, at 4, col. 5.

15 Tamozhennyi kodeks Soiuza SSR (Customs Code of the U.S.S.R.), Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta SSR (Gazette of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.), 1964, No. 20, item 242. Koldaev, V., “Otvetstvennost’ za kontrabandu,” (Liability for Contraband), Sovtetskaia Iustttsna (Soviet Justice), 1973, No. 9, at 5–6 Google Scholar.

16 Berman, J., Soviet Criminal Law and Procedure: The Rsfsr Codes, 81–89 (2d ed., 1972)Google Scholar; Hayward, M. (ed.), On Trial: The Soviet State Versus “Abram Tertz” and “Nikolai Arzhak” (1966)Google Scholar.

17 Berman, supra note 16, at 78; Kucherov, S., The Organs of Soviet Administration of Justice, 212–34 (1970)Google Scholar; Amalrik, A., Involuntary Journey to Siberia (1970)Google Scholar.

18 Berman, supra note 16, at 11 and 89; R. and Medvedev, Z., A Question of Madness, New York Times Magazine, Nov. 7, 1971, at 3 Google Scholar.

19 “Soobshckenie TASS” (TASS Report), Izvestiia, Feb. 15, 1974, p. 4, col. 1.

20 Nimmeh, M., Copyright §§46–59, 93 (1963–1973)Google Scholar.

21 Such protection was clearly established by the leading English case of Donaldson v. Beckett, 4 Burr. 2408 (H.L. 1774) which was approved in a leading early American copyright case, Wheaton v. Peters, 33 U.S. (8 Pet.) 591 (1834).

22 Osnovy Grazhdanskogo zakonodatel’stva Souiza SSR i soiuznykh respublik (Fundamental Principles of Civil Legislation of the U.S.S.R. and the Union Republics), Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR, 1961, No. 50, item 525, Art. 97.

23 Soviet Copyright Amendments, Art. 97(c).

24 D. A. Loeber, supra note 12, at 19–20.

25 Nimmer, M., Copyright §§58.1–58.3 (1963–1973)Google Scholar.

26 Bodley Head, Ltd. v. Flegon (1972), 1 W.L.R. 680 (Ch.).

27 Supra pp. 395–96.

28 New York Times, Aug. 4, 1967, at 26; Aug. 7, 1967, at 21; Aug. 9, 1967, at 36; Aug. 11, 1967, at 29.

29 D. A. Loeber, supra note 12, at 18, note 113.

30 Heim v. Universal Pictures Co., 154 F.2d 480 (2d Cir. 1946).

31 37 C.F.R. Sec. 202.2(a)(3) (1972).

32 Nimmeh, M., Copyright §89.41 (1963–1973)Google Scholar.

33 17 U.S.C. §§1–32.

34 Instruksiia, supra note 5.

35 Nimmer, M., Copyright §49 (1963–1973)Google Scholar.

36 Soviet Copyright Amendments, Art. 98.

37 “Vo Vsesoiuznom agenstve,” supra note 5.

38 See infra pp. 407–08.

39 “Vo Vsesoiuznom agenstve,” supra note 5.

40 Two very strong public policies are involved, freedom of speech and the press and also protection and alienability of private property.

41 Bodley Head, Ltd. v. Flegon, (1972) 1 W.L.K. 680 (Ch.).

42 Soviet Copyright Amendments, Art. 97(a), 97(b), 97(d), 101(b), 102.

43 Ioffe, O. S., Sovetskoe Grazhdanskoe Pravo, 52–80 (1965)Google Scholar.

44 S. 1359, 93rd Cong., 1st Sess. (1973). The bill would add a subsection (d) to 17 U.S.C. §9:

(d) A United States copyright secured by this title to citizens or subjects of foreign states or nations pursuant to subsection (b) or (c), and the right to secure such copyright, shall vest in the author of the work, his executors or administrators, or his voluntary assigns. For the purposes of this title, any such copyright or right to secure copyright shall be deemed to remain the property of the author, his executors or administrators, or his voluntary assigns, regardless of any law, decree or other act of a foreign state or nation which purports to divest the author or said other persons of the United States copyright in his work, or the right to secure it; and no action or proceeding for infringement of any such copyright, or the right to secure it, or common law right in such work, may be maintained by any state, nation, or person claiming rights in such copyright, right to secure copyright, or common law rights by virtue of any such law, decree, or other act.

45 Confiscation of the manuscript or royalties might occur for instance if an author was found to have violated such articles of the Russian Republic Criminal Code as 78 (contraband) or 88 (illegal foreign currency dealings).

46 Fundamental Principles of Civil Legislation of the U.S.S.R. and the Union Republics, Art. 14, Art. 31.

47 Id., Art. 106.

48 United States v. Pink, 315 U.S. 203 (1942). Republic of Iraq v. First National City Bank, 353 F.2d 47 (2d Cir. 1965), cert, denied, 382 U.S. 1027 (1966), notwithstanding Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino, 376 U.S. 398 (1964).

49 Rosemont Industries v. Random House, 366 F.2d 303, 311 (1966), cert, denied, 385 U.S. 1009, 87 S.Ct. 714 (1967).

50 Nimmer, M., Copyright §§150–161 (1963–1973)Google Scholar. O. S. Ioffe, supra note 43, at 80–83.

51 See United States v. Loews, Inc., 371 U.S. 38 (1962); Nimmer, M., Copyright §149 (1963–1973)Google Scholar.

52 Boguslavskii, M. M., “Novoe v sovetskom avtorskom prave,” (New Developments in Soviet Copyright Law), Sovetskoe Gosudarstve I Pravo (Soviet State and Law), 1973, No. 7, at 56 Google Scholar.

53 Pisar, S., Coexistence and Commerce, 364, at 526 note 10 (1970)Google Scholar, citing The Daily Telegraph (London), Aug. 6, 1969 and Le Monde, Aug. 8, 1969.

54 Supra note 2, at 62–64.

55 Id.

56 Soviet Copyright Amendments, Arts. 101–102.

57 Id,, Art. 103.

58 17 U.S.C. $§106–109.

59 17 U.S.C. §197(d).

60 Soviet Copyright Amendments, Art. 97.

61 Id., Art. 103.

62 Gruliow, L., “Soviets Stop Sale of Pirated Foreign lournals Under Geneva Agreement,” Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 27, 1973, at 4 Google Scholar.

63 Williams & Wilkins v. United States, 180 USPQ 49 (Ct. Claims, 1973), cert, denied, 42 U.S. Law Week 3645.

64 Wheaton v. Peters 33 U.S. 591 (1834); Nimmer, M., Copyright §66 (1963–1973)Google Scholar.

65 It may be noted that such publications could not legally be imported into countries such as the United Kingdom which do not allow copyright on official materials.

66 “O stavkakh,” supra note 5.

67 “O podokhodnom naloge,” supra note 5.

68 69 Dept. State Bull. 169 (1973).

69 Proof of such distribution would be difficult, unless testimony from such a person as a newspaper correspondent who knew about the matter could be produced in an American court.