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Category: historical

#ICYMI: Recap of the Copyright Office’s Webinar on Leveling Up Your Copyright Public Records Search

Posted by: Anjana Padmanabhan

On August 1, 2024, the Copyright Office hosted a public webinar, Level Up Your Copyright Public Records Search, sharing ways of searching copyright public records using our pilot of the new Copyright Public Records System (CPRS). CPRS is an easy-to-navigate, highly searchable database with the ability to download, save, email, and share public records such as …

Background looks like a brown wooden table. On it, are two beige parchments showing early Copyright laws. On the right are two photographs with white frames around them. One is black and white and shows people working in a file room. The other is a color photograph of an aerial view of the Jefferson and Madison buildings on Capitol Hill

New Learning Engine Video Highlights the History of Copyright

Posted by: Nora Scheland

This blog post introduces the U.S. Copyright Office’s newest Learning Engine video, “History of Copyright,” which chronicles the history of copyright and the Copyright Office. The Office has released the video, and this blog post, timed with the 234th anniversary of the Congressional bill that eventually became the first federal copyright law.

1928 over an hourglass breaking with musical notes and film

Lifecycle of Copyright: 1928 Works in the Public Domain

Posted by: Alison Hall

Every year on January 1, a new class of creative works enters the public domain in the United States. This year, a variety of works published in 1928, ranging from motion pictures to music to books, joined others in the public domain. The public domain has important historical and cultural benefits in the lifecycle of copyright. Here we highlight a selection of works entering the public domain in 2024.