Proclamation 328—Copyright Agreement with the German Empire

Whereas it is provided by section 13 of the act of Congress of March 3, 1891, entitled "An act to amend Title LX, chapter 3, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to copyrights," that said act "shall only apply to a citizen or subject of a foreign state or nation when such foreign state or nation permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as its own citizens, or when such foreign state or nation is a party to an international agreement which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States of America may at its pleasure become a party to such agreement;" and

Whereas it is also provided by said section that "the existence of either of the conditions aforesaid shall be determined by the President of the United States by proclamation made from time to time as the purposes of this act may require;" and

Whereas in virtue of said section 13 of the aforesaid act of Congress a copyright agreement was signed at Washington on January 15, 1892, in the English and German languages, by the representatives of the United States of America and the German Empire, a true copy of the English version of which agreement is, word for word, as follows:

The President of the United States of America and His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, in the name of the German Empire, being actuated by the desire to extend to their subjects and citizens the full benefit of the legal provisions in force in both countries in regard to copyright, have to this end decided to conclude an agreement and have appointed as their plenipotentiaries:

The President of the United States of America, James G. Blaine, Secretary of State of the United States;

His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, Alfons Mumm von Schwarzenstein, his charge d'affaires near the Government of the United States of America, who, being duly authorized, have concluded the following agreement, subject to due ratification:

ARTICLE I. Citizens of the United States of America shall enjoy in the German Empire the protection of copyright as regards works of literature and art, as well as photographs, against illegal reproduction, on the same basis on which such protection is granted to subjects of the Empire.

ART. II. The United States Government engages in return that the President of the United States shall, in pursuance of section 13 of the act of Congress of March 3, 1891, issue the proclamation therein provided for in regard to the extension of the provisions of that act to German subjects as soon as the Secretary of State shall have been officially notified that the present agreement has received the necessary legislative sanction in the German Empire.

ART. III. This agreement shall be ratified and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington as soon as possible.

The agreement shall go into operation at the expiration of three weeks from the date of the exchange of its ratifications, and shall be applicable only to works not published at the time when it shall have gone into operation. It shall remain in force until the expiration of three months from the day on which notice of a desire for the cessation of its effects shall have been given by one of the contracting parties.

Done in duplicate in the English and German languages, at the city of Washington, this 15th day of January, 1892.

JAMES G. BLAINE.

A. V. MUMM.

And whereas the official notification contemplated by Article II of the said agreement has been received by this Government:

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, do declare and proclaim that the first of the conditions specified in section 13 of the act of March 3, 1891, is now fulfilled in respect to the subjects of the German Empire.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, the 15th day of April, 1892, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and sixteenth.

BENJ. HARRISON

By the President:

JAMES G. BLAINE, Secretary of State.