History and Education
Congress Passes the Current Copyright Act
On October 19, 1976, President Gerald Ford signed the Copyright Act of 1976 (Public Law 94-553), the first major revision of the copyright law since 1909. The 1976 Act extended federal copyright protection to both published and unpublished works.
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David Ladd, 1980-1985
David Ladd was appointed Register of Copyrights effective June 2, 1980, upon the retirement of Barbara Ringer. He was the first Register of Copyrights who had also served as Commissioner of Patents.
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Mark Twain Debuted Iconic Style
Mark Twain impersonators routinely don a white suit to evoke the persona of the famous author. Twain didn’t adopt his signature style until December 7, 1906 (age 71) when he testified about a copyright reform bill before the Congressional Joint Committee on Patents.
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Copyright for Kids
Copyright protects books, movies, videogames, songs, photos, and more – it applies to any work of the human mind or imagination, even a child’s finger painting!
History of Copyright Law
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Historical Copyright Law
Past Published Versions of The Copyright Law of the United States
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Copyright Law Revision Studies
From 1955 to 1960 the Copyright Office conducted a program of studies of the Copyright Law and practices for Congress
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Past Legislation (114th Congress and previous)
Previous Legislative Action and Developments from Congress related to Copyright
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Copyright Testimony to Congress (2010 and earlier)
Previous Legislative Action and Developments from Congress related to Copyright
Past Reports and Publications
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Annual Reports
Past Annual Reports of the U.S. Copyright Office
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Other Reports and Publications
Past Reports and Publications issues by the U.S. Copyright Processes
Past Announcements
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NewsNet Archive
Archive of Past NewsNet articles and announcements
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ML (Mailing List) Announcements
Past News articles and information related to Copyright published and sent through the Mailing List until 2003 with the introduction of NewsNet