An article in a recent Wall Street Journal discussed attempts by record
companies to suppress yet another electronic technology.  It said by
way of background that songwriters once tried to sue the player piano
out of existence.

I'd never heard about this, though it certainly sounds plausible.  What
happened?

Mark Kinsler
Lancaster, Ohio USA
http://www.mkinsler.com/

 [ The article following was first published on April 7, 2005, in the
 [ New York Times.  The author is a professor of business, economics
 [ and information management at the University of California, Berkeley.
 [ -- Robbie
 [
 [ Source:
 [ http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~hal/people/hal/NYTimes/2005-04-07.html

 - - -

File-Sharing Is the Latest Battleground in the
Clash of Technology and Copyright
By Hal R. Varian

   Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster, a case that has important
implications for the future of online innovation.
 [snip]

   In the early 1900's, the disruptive technology was player pianos.
Manufacturers of player piano rolls purchased a single copy of the
sheet music of a song, hired someone to record the music and then
sold these mechanical reproductions to consumers. The songwriters
held that this was copyright infringement, while the piano roll
manufacturers pointed out that they had paid the appropriate
copyright fees when they purchased the sheet music.

  In 1908, the Supreme Court found in favor of the piano roll
manufacturers, but practically invited Congress to consider new
legislation on the issue. Congress responded with the Copyright Act
of 1909, which created a new form of intellectual property,
mechanical reproduction rights.

  The new law required piano roll manufacturers to pay songwriters
a fee for each song. Subsequently, mechanical reproduction fees have
been extended to new technologies like phonographs, audio tapes,
CD's and online streaming digital music.

  In the 1908 case, songwriters did not try to ban player piano
technology. They clearly recognized that the additional distribution
of their songs was potentially advantageous. Their goal was simply
to get a fair share of the proceeds from the piano roll sales.
 [snip]