The following is a guest post by Jessica Chinnadurai, an attorney-advisor in the Office of Public Information and Education. “When Sandra Day O’Connor, the ‘cowgirl from out west,’ became the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court, she changed the world and made history.” Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote these words about her former colleague in a press release on December 1, 2023—the day retired Justice O’Connor passed away and the country reflected on her enduring legacy as a public servant. The other current female justices, Elana Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown ..read more

The Copyright Office celebrates Women’s History Month and this year’s theme, “Women who advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion.” As part of this year’s celebration, Copyright Office staff sat down with Sarah Beth Morgan, an animation director, illustrator, and muralist who has practiced art across the country. Morgan attended Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and spent her early career at a production company in Los Angeles and a content agency in Portland, Oregon. Morgan is currently a freelance artist and has worked closely with motion studios and major retail clients on comme ..read more

On February 25, the U.S. Copyright Office will mark 234 years since the bill that would become the first federal copyright law was introduced to Congress. Many updates to copyright law have taken place since then, including changes to the law that are still in effect today, under the Copyright Act of 1976. Timed with this historic date, the Office has released a new Learning Engine video on the history of copyright and the Copyright Office. The new video, titled “History of Copyright,” joins twenty-two other videos in our Learning Engine series. The series debuted in 2019 and introduces copyri ..read more

Since its initial observation in the United States in 1976, Black History Month is a dedicated occasion to celebrate the achievements, contributions, culture, and history of African Americans. Every year, the Copyright Office takes this opportunity to recognize the impact of Black artists and their creations as well as the significant role that the copyright system plays in protecting them. As part of this year’s celebration, we reflect on the legacy of Alice Walker and her book The Color Purple, which Walker registered with the Office in 1982. Credit: HSSstudio/Shutterstock Fea ..read more

This blog also includes contributions from Jessica Chinnadurai, attorney-advisor, and Rafael Franco, writer-editor intern in the Copyright Office. Over the last several years, we have witnessed a new class of creative works entering the public domain in the United States each January 1. This year, a variety of works published in 1928, ranging from motion pictures to music to books, joined others in the public domain. The public domain has important historical and cultural benefits in the lifecycle of copyright. What is copyright and how is it different from other types of intellectua ..read more

This summer, the Copyright Office reached a new milestone in our modernization efforts: surpassing one million card catalog records digitized with searchable metadata and added to the Office’s Copyright Public Records System (CPRS) pilot. As the number of card catalog entries in CPRS continues to grow, now is a good time to revisit the Office’s digitization efforts and explain how to read a registration application card. Researchers from all over the country and the globe rely on the public record the Office maintains and manages. The Copyright Reading Room oversees approximately thirty-five m ..read more

The following is a guest post by Rafael Franco, a writer-editor intern in the U.S. Copyright Office’s Outreach and Education Section. During Native American Heritage Month, we celebrate the richness of Native American culture and its diverse array of creative expression. The U.S. Copyright Office’s records contain thousands of submissions from Native American creators in various artistic forms, including film, television, music, literature, and documents. This year, the Office shines a light on the accomplishments of Native American television creators—specifically, the creative team behind Re ..read more

This blog post is adapted from an interview of Copyright Claims Officers David Carson, Monica McCabe, and Brad Newberg by Miriam Lord that was published in the August/September 2023 issue of Landslide Magazine, a publication from the American Bar Association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law. The statistics in this post have been updated to be current through October 31, 2023. In June of this year, the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) celebrated an important milestone—one full year of accepting cases! The CCB is a small claims tribunal designed to resolve copyright disputes with damages up to ..read more

The following is a guest post by Yesenia Alcoser, a public affairs intern in the Copyright Office’s Outreach and Education Section. Since 1988, Americans have observed Hispanic Heritage Month, which celebrates cultures full of rich art, music, and traditions, from September 15 to October 15. Linda Ronstadt, José Andrés, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Rita Moreno are just a few of the many influential figures actively creating art that inspires those from all walks of life. Join us for a deeper look at these four creators, whose creativity is inspired by their heritage. Editorial credit: Blueee77 / S ..read more

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a significant new focal point for the Copyright Office in 2023. The Office launched an AI initiative in mid-March, which was followed by four comprehensive listening sessions in April and May and then, most recently, by two very popular webinars in June and July. The webinars, which continued to break attendance records for the Copyright Office, provided an opportunity for the Office to dive deeper into the copyright registration guidance for AI-generated works and perspectives on how AI impacts copyright systems both domestically and across the globe. T ..read more