Chapter III: Who Is the Owner of the Copyright?

Under Section 4952 of the Revised Statutes as amended by the Act of March 3, 1891, the statutory right is vested in "the author, inventor, designer, or proprietor, and the executors, administrators, or assigns of any such person."

Care must be taken in entering a copyright that it is entered by and in the name of the owner of the common law right in the literary or artistic work. The entry does not require to be in the name of the author or to disclose who he is. It must be in the name of the owner, and if entered in the name of any other person it will be a bad entry.[1446] Thus, when a printer in his own name copyrighted a book of which he was not the owner, he could not maintain an action either for his own use or for the use of the owner.[1447] Every action for infringement must be brought in the name of the owner of the copyright for the time being; and it would seem, if he is not the author himself, he must show a derivative title from the author.[1448] The owner of a manuscript by an author unknown would not be entitled to copyright as "proprietor" and first publisher.[1449]