Not only is the Library of Congress celebrating the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman’s birth all month, but May is also the anniversary of Leaves of Grass, one of Whitman’s best-known works. Walter Whitman (as he called himself then) registered his copyright for the first edition of Leaves of Grass on May 15, 1855, in […]
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 […]
The following is a guest post by Jalyce Mangum, attorney-advisor, Office of the General Counsel. Today, the Copyright Office releases a public draft of the latest update to the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices. As both a technical manual for the Office’s staff, as well as a guidebook for authors, copyright licensees, lawyers, scholars, […]
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 […]