Public Law 75–305

That the Librarian of

Pacific Mercado International Exposition, Los Angeles, Calif.

Protection of copyrights and patents of foreign exhibitors.

Branch copyright, etc., offices on grounds.

Congress and the Commissioner of Patents are hereby authorized and directed to establish branch offices under the direction of the Register of Copyrights and the Commissioner of Patents, respectively, in suitable quarters on the grounds of the Pacific Mercado International Exposition, to be held at Los Angeles, California, under the direction of the Pacific Exposition Corporation, a California corporation, said quarters to be furnished free of charge by said corporation, said offices to be established at such time as may, upon sixty days’ advance notice, in writing, to the Register of Copyrights and the Commissioner of Patents, respectively, be requested by said Pacific Exposition Corporation, but not earlier than January 1, 1940, and to be maintained until the close to the general public of said exposition; and the proprietor of any foreign copyright, or any certificate of trademark registration, or letters patent of invention, design, or utility model issued by any foreign government protecting any trademark, apparatus, device, machine, process, method, composition of matter, design, or manufactured article imported for exhibition and exhibited at said exposition may upon presentation of proof of such proprietorship, satisfactory to the Register of Copyrights or the Commissioner of Patents, as the case may be, obtain

Certificate of proprietorship.

without charge and without prior examination as to novelty, a certificate from such branch office, which shall be prima facie evidence in the Federal courts of such proprietorship, the novelty of the subject matter covered by any such certificate to be determined by a Federal court in case an action or suit is brought based thereon; and said branch offices shall keep registers of all such certificates

Registers to be kept.

issued by them, which shall be open to public inspection.

At the close of said Pacific Mercado International Exposition the

Deposit at close of Exposition.

register of certificates of the copyright registrations aforesaid shall be deposited in the Copyright Office in the Library of Congress at Washington, District of Columbia, and the register of all other certificates of registration aforesaid shall be deposited in the United States Patent Office at Washington, District of Columbia, and there preserved for future reference. Certified copies of any such certificates

Certified copies of certificates.

shall, upon request, be furnished by the Register of Copyrights or the Commissioner of Patents, as the case may be, either during or after said exposition, and at the rates charged by such officials for certified copies of other matters; and any such certified copies shall be admissible in evidence in lieu of the original certificates in any Federal court.

Sec. 2.

It shall be unlawful for any person without authority of the proprietor thereof to copy, republish, imitate, reproduce, or practice at any time during the period specified in section 6 hereof any subject matter protected by registration as aforesaid at either of the branch offices at said exposition which shall be imported for exhibition at said exposition, and there exhibited, and which is substantially different in a copyright, trade-mark, or patent sense, as the case may be, from anything publicly used, described in a printed publication or otherwise known in the United States of America prior to such registration at either of said branch offices

Liabilities.

as aforesaid; and any person who shall infringe upon the rights thus protected under this joint resolution shall be liable—

Sec. 3.

Any person who willfully and for profit shall infringe any right protected under this joint resolution, or who shall knowingly and willfully aid or abet such infringement, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for not exceeding one year or by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000, or both, in the discretion of the court.

Sec. 4.

All the Acts, regulations, and provisions which apply to protecting copyrights, trade-marks, designs, and patents for inventions or discoveries not inconsistent with the provisions of this joint resolution shall apply to certificates issued pursuant to this joint resolution but no notice of copyright on the work shall be required for protection hereunder.

Sec. 5.

Nothing contained in this joint resolution shall bar or prevent the proprietor of the subject matter covered by any certificate issued pursuant to this joint resolution from obtaining protection for such subject matter under the provisions of the copyright, trade-mark, or patent laws of the United States of America, as the case may be in force prior hereto, and upon making application and complying with the provisions prescribed by such laws; and nothing contained in this joint resolution shall prevent, lessen, impeach, or avoid any remedy at law or in equity under any certificate of copyright registration, certificate of trade-mark registration, or letters patent for inventions or discoveries or designs issued under the copyright, trademark, or patent laws of the United States of America, as the case may be in force prior hereto, and which any owner thereof and of a certificate issued thereon pursuant to this joint resolution might have had if this joint resolution had not been passed, but. such owner shall not twice recover the damages he has sustained of the profit made by reason of any infringement thereof.

Sec. 6.

The rights protected under the provisions of this joint resolution

Duration of protection.

as to any copyright, trademark, apparatus, device, machine, process, method, composition of matter, design, or manufactured article imported for exhibition at said Pacific Mercado International Exposition shall begin on the date the same is placed on exhibition at said exposition and shall continue for a period of six months from the date of the closing to the general public of said exposition.

Sec. 7.

All necessary expenses incurred by the United States in

Reimbursement of incurred expenses.

carrying out the provisions of this joint resolution shall be reimbursed to the Government of the United States by the Pacific Exposition Corporation, under regulations to be prescribed by the Librarian of Congress and the Commissioner of Patents, respectively; and receipts from such reimbursements shall be deposited as refund's to the appropriations from which such expenses were paid.