Section III The State
It has been questioned whether the Government of the United States or an individual State could take out a copyright for itself.1464 It does seem doubtful whether the State can ab initio be the proprietor of a copyright. As was pointed out in Banks v. Manchester:1465
“The State cannot properly be called a citizen of the United States or a resident therein, nor could it ever be in a condition to fall within the description in the Revised Statutes, section 4952 or section 4954.”
A corporation, however, has been held capable of entering itself as the original proprietor of a copyright.1466 In the case of Heine v. Appleton,1467 where an artist was employed on a Government expedition to Japan on the terms that all his artistic and scientific work should be the property of the United States Government, and the artistic material was, with the artist’s consent, published by order of Congress in the report of the expedition, it was said that the artistic matter had been abandoned to the free use of the public. It does not appear, however, whether Congress, if they had taken steps, could or could not have secured a copyright in the literary or artistic matter in the report. Whether or not the Government of the United States or a State could be lawfully entered as the original proprietors of a work, it cannot be seriously doubted that as assignees they could acquire a copyright in matter already copyrighted by an individual. This they would be entitled to purchase and hold as any other Government property, such as ships, guns, and stores. A copyright might be taken out by an individual minister for the benefit of the people.1468