Like many Americans, the Copyright Office staff and the Office as an organization are experiencing unprecedented challenges since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure the safety of staff and visitors, the Library of Congress closed its buildings to the public, including the one that houses the Office, until further notice. In light of this, plus ongoing health and safety guidance from the Library, the Office has taken steps to shut down on-site operations.
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.
Today we celebrate the forty-sixth anniversary of Barbara Ringer’s appointment as the first female Register of Copyrights. While her tenure was long before my time in the Copyright Office, I’m in awe of her dedication to intellectual property law and especially to equality and diversity in the workplace. Ringer earned her law degree and joined …
Let’s talk about fees. Not everyone’s favorite topic, I’ll admit, but it’s something the Copyright Office could not operate without. Yesterday, the Copyright Office delivered our Fee Schedule and Analysis to Congress. Every three to five years, the Office engages in an in-depth study of our fees to determine whether to adjust them. To be …
If asked, many of us would easily be able to identify our favorite song or tune, and often to even quote verbatim (e.g., sing embarrassingly off-key) the actual bridge, melody, or lyrics that made that song so special. Whether it is the way a song made us laugh or reflected our innermost desires and fears, …
It is an honor and pleasure to reintroduce myself to you as the United States Register of Copyrights. As the Supreme Court has said, copyright is intended to be the “engine of free expression.” The copyright system provides a critical framework to support creativity, culture, innovation and, yes, “free expression,” to the benefit of the …
