We’re geared up this weekend to welcome everyone to learn all about copyright. On Sept. 26 and 27, join the U.S. Copyright Office at the National Book Festival and learn about how copyright empowers todayʼs authors and protects diverse perspectives. We’ll be all-virtual this year, and that means people around the country, and even around […]
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.
The U.S. Copyright Office entered Phase Two operations with the rest of the Library of Congress on August 24 and continues its outreach efforts.
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 […]
I have a confession to make. I made it all the way through a BFA in photography without knowing what exactly copyright was or what it meant for me and my work. It’s not that my professors did anything wrong. They were inspiring, wonderful, and talented creators. It’s never too late to learn though. All […]
The following is a guest post by Paul Capel, Supervisory Records Management Section Head. The United States Copyright Office holds the most comprehensive collection of copyright records in the world. The Office has over 200,000 boxes of deposit copies spread among three storage facilities in Landover, Maryland; a contracted space in Pennsylvania; and the National […]
The following is a guest post by Maria Strong, Acting Register of Copyrights. The U.S. Copyright Office has taken a number of actions to ensure that mission-critical functions continue during the ongoing challenges caused by COVID-19. I commend our staff for maintaining a continued high level of service under these challenging conditions and greatly appreciate […]
The U.S. Copyright Office hosts Copyright Office Presents: 150 Years of Celebrating Creativity on August 5, 2020, online at noon eastern time.
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.
June is Pride Month, and this year is the 50th anniversary of the first pride parade in New York City. What do copyright and pride have in common? Quite a bit, actually. Where would our celebrations, our heroes, and our increasing understanding of advocacy and allyship be without posters and speeches? Literature? Zines? Given that, […]