The following is a guest post by Regan A. Smith, General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights. Last week, the Supreme Court issued an important opinion regarding copyright registration. This blog discusses the decision, and some of the current (and future) options available for rights owners looking to register their copyright claims. What is the […]
The full set of Copyright Card Catalog images is now available online in our Virtual Card Catalog (VCC) Proof of Concept. A full year after our first release of the VCC in January 2018, the VCC has come a long way. We began last year by releasing nearly eighteen million card images from 1955 to 1977 to […]
The following is a guest post by Anandashankar Mazumdar, outreach and education specialist in the Office of Public Information and Education. 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 […]
Today, the Library of Congress and the National Film Preservation Board announced this year’s list of films added to the National Film Registry. Many of my favorite films are already part of the Registry, including Star Wars, The Muppet Movie, Airplane!, This Is Spinal Tap, The Breakfast Club, Top Gun, and The Princess Bride. This year’s […]
Ensuring that Copyright Office systems are modernized and work effectively for both creators and users of copyrighted works in the digital age is one of the Copyright Office’s most critical missions. Over the course of the last couple of years, I have encountered a wide variety of creators and other users of our system excited […]
The following is a guest post by Regan A. Smith, General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights. “When modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the state always change with them.” Plato, the Republic Book IV (Jowett tr.) Following unanimous votes in the House of Representatives and the Senate, today the President signed the […]
Today is an exciting day for copyright law. The president has signed the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act, and the United States will soon formally deposit instruments to join this treaty. Five years ago, on June 27, 2013, the international copyright community adopted the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are […]
The following is a guest post by Ryan Kwock, summer law clerk in the Office of Policy and International Affairs This summer, I had the pleasure of serving as a law clerk in the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office. In addition to working on challenging domestic and international copyright […]
The following is a guest post by Tracie Coleman, Information Section head of the Licensing Division. I began my career in the U.S. Copyright Office in 1991. For ten years, I worked as a bibliographer in the Copyright Public Records Reading Room (CPRRR). When responding to public requests for copyright information, I was responsible for […]
The following is a guest post by Zhao Zhao, summer law clerk in the Office of Policy and International Affairs The U.S. Copyright Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) successfully hosted the 2018 International Copyright Institute (ICI) from June 4–8, 2018, in Washington, D.C. The Copyright Office’s Office of Policy & International Affairs […]