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Blogs Categories: Uncategorized

Blogs Categories: Uncategorized

Houdini and the Magic of Copyright

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The following is a guest blog post by Marilyn Creswell, Librarian-in-Residence at the U.S. Copyright Office. Magicians do not always reveal their tricks, even when they register their copyright claims. The legendary Hungarian immigrant Harry Houdini registered three of his famous illusions as “playlets,” or short plays, with the U.S. Copyright Office between 1911 and …

Copyright Office Registration Processing Times Change for the Second Half of Fiscal 2020

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The following is a guest post by Robert J. Kasunic, Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Registration Policy and Practice. This week, the Copyright Office released its registration processing times for the second half of fiscal 2020 (April–September 2020). We issue processing statistics twice during the fiscal year, so this latest update reflects registration …

Published Works Enter the Public Domain in the United States for First Time in Twenty Years

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New Year’s Day 2019 was a landmark for American copyright law. For the first time in twenty years, published works of expression—including books, music, and films—started moving out of copyright protection and into the public domain. U.S. copyright law gives creators several exclusive rights over their creative and original works. These include, for example, the …