Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition
- June 23, 1789: First federal bill relating to copyrights (H.R.10) presented to the first Congress.
- May 31, 1790: Congress enacts the first federal copyright law, “An act for encouragement of learning by securing copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned.” This law provided for a term of fourteen years with the option of renewing the registration for another fourteen-year term. The law only applied to books, maps, and charts. It also noted that a copyright should be registered in the U.S. district court where the author or proprietor resided (not the U.S. Copyright Office, which had not yet been created).
- April 29, 1802: Congress adds prints to works protected by copyright law.
- February 3, 1831: First general revision of the copyright law. Music added to works protected against unauthorized printing and vending. First term of copyright extended to twenty-eight years with the option of renewal for another fourteen-year term.
- August 18, 1856: Congress passes a supplementary law to protect dramatic compositions.
- December 31, 1864: President Abraham Lincoln appoints Ainsworth Rand Spofford to be the sixth Librarian of Congress. Spofford served as the de facto Register of Copyrights until the formal position of Register was created in 1897.
- March 3, 1865: Congress enacts “An Act to amend the several Acts respecting Copyright,” which added protections for photographs and photographic negatives.[1]
- July 8, 1870: In this second major revision of copyright law, Congress centralized copyright activities (including registration and deposit) in the Library of Congress. The law added “works of art” to the list of protected works and reserved to authors the right to create certain derivative works, including translations and dramatizations.
- March 3, 1891: With the passage of the International Copyright Act, Congress extended copyright protection to certain works by foreign authors. This was the first U.S. copyright law authorizing establishment of copyright relations with foreign countries.
- July 1891: The Catalog of Copyright Entries, which includes records of registered works, is published in book form for the first time.
- 1895: Congress mandates that U.S. government works are not subject to copyright protection.
- January 6, 1897: Congress enacts a law to protect music against unauthorized public performance.
Chapter 100 : 17
12/22/2014
- ↑ This note seems to confuse two laws. The first, entitled, “An act amendatory of ‘An Act to amend an act entitled “An act to promote the progress of the useful arts,” approved March three, eighteen hundred and sixty-three,’” is chapter 112 (and adds protection for photographs), while the second, entitled, “An Act supplemental to an Act entitled ‘An Act to amend the several Acts respecting Copyright,’ approved February third, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, and to the Acts in Addition thereto and Amendment thereof,” is chapter 126. (Wikisource contributor note)
