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Posted by: Holland Gormley
The following is a guest post by Marilyn Creswell, 2020 Librarian-in-Residence for the U.S. Copyright Office. Sojourner Truth was a preacher, abolitionist, and suffragist. A lesser known fact is that she was also a copyright innovator. Truth was born in New York around 1797. Enslaved during her youth and early adulthood, she eventually gained freedom …
Posted in: Copyright, education, historical, Uncategorized
Posted by: Steve Andreadis
The following is a guest post by Mary Daniel, summer 2020 law clerk in the Office of Policy and International Affairs. Mary is a third year at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. The Halloween season is the time of year for horror movies and scary stories. However, sometimes it’s the horror …
Posted in: Copyright, fair use, film, historical, literature
Posted by: Alison Hall
Today is Constitution Day, which is a day of great celebration in copyright. In addition to all of the other treasures in the Constitution, of which there are many, our country's founding document includes the foundation for U.S. copyright law. In article 1, section 8, clause 8, the Constitution states that Congress has the power to enact laws to "promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." And Congress obliged, passing the first federal copyright law in 1790, updating it throughout the years to address the changing times.
Posted in: Copyright, historical, legislation
Posted by: Anandashankar Mazumdar
As the Copyright Office celebrates its 150th birthday, we can look back more than 240 years through the history of copyright protections in the United States to see how the law has changed in response to changing technologies and economics. The authors of the U.S. Constitution believed that copyright was important enough to explicitly grant …
Posted in: Copyright, court cases, historical, photography, Supreme Court
Posted by: Steve Andreadis
The U.S. Copyright Office hosts Copyright Office Presents: 150 Years of Celebrating Creativity on August 5, 2020, online at noon eastern time.
Posted in: Copyright, historical, Inside the Copyright Office, News and Events
Posted by: Nicole McNew Chen
The Statue of Liberty, officially named Liberty Enlightening the World, is one of the most recognized sculptures ever registered for copyright, and a reminder of the power of copyright-protected works and the inspiration they can provide to all of us.
Posted in: Copyright, Copyright Lore, historical, Uncategorized
Posted by: Alison Hall
To celebrate women's history month, I wanted to write about the five women who have served (and are serving) as leaders of the U.S. Copyright Office. Women have led this Office consecutively since November 1993, and their accomplishments are nothing short of incredible. These five lawyers (who all attended either Columbia Law School or George Washington Law) have contributed over 100 years of public service to the Copyright Office, counting all their roles. This blog shows just a snapshot of their accomplishments and contributions to copyright.
Posted in: Copyright, Copyright Lore, historical, Inside the Copyright Office, Register of Copyrights, Women's History
Posted by: Nicole McNew Chen
On January 1, thousands of 1924 works entered the public domain. An important part of the copyright lifecycle, you can use works in the public domain freely to inspire your own creativity. Explore some of the notable additions from George and Ira Gershwin, Buster Keaton, W. E. B. Du Bois, and more.
Posted in: Copyright, film, historical, music, Public Domain