2000–Present

Highlight: The Engine of Free Expression

In December 2014, the Copyright Office released the first comprehensive revision of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices in more than two decades. The Compendium, Third Edition serves as the Copyright Office’s governing administrative manual for registrations and recordations. The revision presents more than 1,200 pages of practices and sets the stage for a number of long-term improvements.

On October 11, 2018, the Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, or Music Modernization Act or MMA, was signed into law, updating copyright protections in the music marketplace and granting the Copyright Office the authority to designate a Mechanical Licensing Collective and Digital Licensee Coordinator, the entities tasked with key aspects of the statute. It also provided certain protections and limitations to pre-1972 sound recordings and updated the law regarding producer royalties. It is the most significant copyright legislation in decades.