On September 11, the U.S. Copyright Office released a report, The Geography of Copyright Registrations. The report examines the geographic distribution of copyright claims registered by individuals and organizations within the United States using a dataset compiled by the Office of the Chief Economist. The purpose of this report is to better recognize how patterns of registration differ across the country. Illuminating these patterns helps provide a better understanding of how, where, and by whom the U.S. copyright system is used, and it helps identify the socioeconomic factors that influence creative and innovative activity.  

The report analyzes registrations for the eight types of works most frequently registered between 2009 and 2022: visual art works, computer programs, dramatic works, literary works, musical works, motion pictures, serials, and sound recordings. 

First, the report found that copyright registrations are clustered in different parts of the country. This geographic clustering is consistent with urban economic literature that describes how people and firms become more productive when they locate close to one another because they benefit from exchanging knowledge and resources amongst themselves. These effects are known to be especially relevant for the information industries, which produce works that can be registered. Most copyright registrations originate from five metropolitan areas: New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and Chicago. Second, copyright registration data suggests that regions specialize in different types of creative works.  

• Registrants in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states register the most literary works.  

• Registrants in California are more likely to specialize in film and dramatic works.  

• Registrants in the South are more likely to specialize in musical works. 

Third, some areas have a high volume of registrations simply because of their large populations. When controlling for population, numerous locations emerge where individuals, companies, or universities are registering high concentrations of creative works. Examples in the study include music publishers in small towns, a consumer product firm registering claims related to their online advertising and social media content, trade associations protecting their online databases, and independent artists on the outskirts of large cities.

As U.S. Copyright Office statistician Michael Palmedo noted in a recent Federal News Network interview:  

“There were definitely some surprises in the data. To create this report, we spent a lot of time poring over registration data that hadn’t gotten as much attention because the Office of the Chief Economist is a relatively new part of the Copyright Office. But when we looked at the data, a bunch of unexpected things stood out.  For instance, there is a large number of advertisements registered as artistic works, which doesn’t mean that most firms register copyrights on their ads, but many do. We also saw a lot of registrations for artworks that were actually for clothing and textiles, both in Los Angeles and New York City. These cities each have large textile and garment industries which use copyright systems to protect their designs. This shows that registration of artworks is important not just for artists, but for other types of businesses. Finally, it was fun to see all these neat little areas that you wouldn’t think of as having really vibrant, creative sectors that actually do – these are small towns with a few active registrants like Winona, Minnesota, for instance. There’s a lot of musical works being registered there, and I never would have thought of that if it wasn’t for this exercise of really poring through the data.” 

A forthcoming report builds on these findings, by exploring the demographics of copyright registrations in the United States. The Office will use findings from reports like these to focus outreach and education programs and initiatives in furtherance of its goals to enhance the use of data and to make the copyright system as understandable and accessible to as many people as possible.  

Find more information about the Copyright Office’s economic research agenda, published and future reports, and publicly available research datasets on the Economic Research webpage

Una versión en español de esta entrada se puede encontrar aquí.

For more than 150 years, the U.S. Copyright Office has been a central component of the nation’s copyright system. Drawing on its core mission to “promote creativity and free expression . . . for the benefit of all,” the Office administers the nation’s copyright laws and provides impartial, expert advice on copyright law and policy. The Office provides that impartial, expert advice not only to Congress, the courts, and executive branch agencies but also, importantly, to the public.

In fact, a primary goal in the Office’s strategic plan is Copyright for All, and the Office is dedicated to making the copyright system as understandable and accessible to as many members of the public as possible, including individuals and small entities as well as historically underserved communities. Within the Copyright Office, the Office of Public Information and Education (PIE) develops a variety of educational resources and provides information to help creators and users of copyright-protected works utilize the copyright system and understand their rights. As part of this strategy, the Office observes National Hispanic Heritage Month, which pays tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society.

A key initiative under the Copyright for All strategic goal is the expansion of the Office’s Spanish language program. Forty-two million people in the United States speak Spanish at home. To broaden access to the copyright system, the Office has made a range of materials accessible to the Spanish-speaking community.

Over the past two years, the Copyright Office has released more than forty translated resources for Spanish speakers, accessible through the Copyright in Spanish home page. Spanish speakers can find more than a dozen circulars discussing copyright concepts, such as copyright basics, copyright registration, and works not protected by copyright; Office practices and procedures; and information on registering various types of works with the Copyright Office, including musical compositions and sound recordings. Other Spanish publications include handouts on types of works protected by copyright: literary works, visual art works, photography, musical works, and sound recordings. Sixteen frequently-asked-questions webpages and a contact webpage round out the current portfolio of Spanish resources. Additionally, the Office has periodically published Spanish-language blog posts and social media posts celebrating diverse creators.

These Spanish resources join a wealth of English language materials in various formats, including additional circulars; the Engage Your Creativity webpages, which provide tailored information for creators of different disciplines; the Learning Engine video series; Copyright: Creativity at Work blog posts; the Find Yourself in Copyright exhibit; tutorials; and more. These resources help creators and users with all levels of copyright knowledge learn more about how to protect their creative intellectual property and responsibly use copyright-protected works.

In addition to our print and digital materials, the Copyright Office offers live assistance, including in Spanish. The Public Information Office (PIO) employs a team of bilingual copyright specialists, available to discuss copyright-related inquiries by phone, email, and in-person. PIO copyright specialists can answer questions about general copyright issues and specific Office practices. They can also provide walk-through services to assist applicants in navigating the registration process, such as selecting the appropriate application and using the online registration system. Office staff cannot provide legal advice, so if you have a specific legal question, the Office encourages you to check with an attorney.

This month, the Office released more circulars on various topics, including supplementary registration, works made for hire, derivative works, and registration for photographs and motion pictures. PIE is also planning for the development of additional Spanish resources in the coming years, ensuring the Spanish-speaking community will have the necessary resources to access and benefit from the copyright system.

La siguiente publicación fue traducida por Nicole McNew Chen y María Pérez, especialista superior en el derecho de autor en la Oficina de Información Pública y Educación.

You can read this post in English here.

Durante más de 150 años, la Oficina del Derecho de Autor de los EE. UU. ha sido un componente central del sistema de derecho de autor del país. Basándose en su misión principal para “promover la creatividad y la libre expresión . . . para el beneficio de todos,” la Oficina administra las leyes de derecho de autor del país y proporciona asesoramiento imparcial y experto sobre las leyes y políticas de derecho de autor. La Oficina proporciona ese asesoramiento imparcial y experto no solo al Congreso, los tribunales y las agencias del poder ejecutivo, sino también, de manera importante, al público.

De hecho, uno de los objetivos primordiales del plan estratégico de la Oficina es el Derecho de Autor para Todos (Copyright for All en inglés), y la Oficina está dedicada a hacer que el sistema de derecho de autor sea tan comprensible y accesible como sea posible para tantos miembros del público como sea posible, incluidos individuos y pequeñas entidades, así como comunidades históricamente desatendidas. Dentro de la Oficina del Derecho de Autor, la Oficina de Información y Educación Pública (Office of Public Information and Education, PIE en inglés) desarrolla una variedad de recursos educativos y proporciona información para ayudar a los creadores y usuarios de obras protegidas por derecho de autor a usar el sistema del derecho de autor y entender sus derechos. Como parte de esta estrategia, la Oficina observa el Mes de la Herencia Hispana, que rinde homenaje a las generaciones de hispanoamericanos que han influido y enriquecido positivamente a nuestra nación y sociedad.

Una iniciativa clave bajo el objetivo estratégico del Derecho de Autor para Todos es la expansión del programa en español de la Oficina. Cuarenta y dos millones de personas en los Estados Unidos hablan español en la casa. Para ampliar el acceso al sistema del derecho de autor, la Oficina ha creado una variedad de materiales accesibles a la comunidad hispanohablante.

En los últimos dos años, la Oficina del Derecho de Autor ha publicado más de cuarenta recursos traducidos para hispanohablantes, accesibles a través de la página principal del Derecho de autor en español. Los hispanohablantes pueden encontrar más de una docena de circulares que discuten conceptos del derecho de autor, como los fundamentos básicos del derecho de autor, el registro del derecho de autor y las obras no protegidas por derecho de autor; prácticas y procedimientos de la Oficina; e información sobre el registro de diversos tipos de obras en la Oficina del Derecho de Autor, incluidas las composiciones musicales y las grabaciones de sonido. Otras publicaciones en español incluyen folletos sobre los tipos de obras protegidas por derecho de autor: obras literarias, obras de artes visuales, fotografía, obras musicales y grabaciones sonoras. Dieciséis páginas de preguntas frecuentes y una página de contacto completan la cartera actual de recursos en español. Además, la Oficina ha publicado periódicamente entradas de blog y publicaciones en las redes sociales en español celebrando a diversos creadores.

Estos recursos en español se unen a una gran cantidad de materiales en inglés en varios formatos, incluyendo circulares adicionales; las páginas web de Involucre su creatividad (Engage Your Creativity en inglés), que proporcionan información personalizada para creadores de diferentes disciplinas; la serie de videos Motor de aprendizaje (Learning Engine en inglés); las publicaciones del blog El derecho de autor: creatividad en movimiento (Copyright: Creativity at Work en inglés); la exhibición Encuéntrese en el derecho de autor (Find Yourself in Copyright en inglés); tutoriales y más. Estos recursos ayudan a los creadores y usuarios con todos los niveles de conocimiento sobre derecho de autor a aprender más sobre cómo proteger su propiedad intelectual creativa y usar de manera responsable las obras protegidas por derecho de autor.

Además de nuestros materiales impresos y digitales, la Oficina del Derecho de Autor ofrece asistencia en vivo, incluso en español. La Oficina de Información Pública (Public Information Office, PIO en inglés) cuenta con un equipo de especialistas en derecho de autor bilingües, disponibles para discutir consultas relacionadas con el derecho de autor por teléfono, correo electrónico y en persona. Los especialistas en derecho de autor de la PIO pueden responder preguntas sobre cuestiones generales de derecho de autor y prácticas específicas de la Oficina. También pueden ofrecer servicios de asistencia guiada para ayudar a los solicitantes a navegar por el proceso de registro, como seleccionar la solicitud adecuada y usar el sistema de registro en línea. El personal de la Oficina no puede proporcionar asesoramiento legal, por lo que si usted tiene una pregunta legal específica, la Oficina le recomienda que consulte con un abogado.

Este mes, la Oficina publicó más circulares sobre diversos temas, incluidos el registro suplementario, obras hechas por contrato, obras derivadas y el registro de fotografías y películas. PIE también está planeando el desarrollo de recursos adicionales en español en los próximos años, para garantizar que la comunidad hispanohablante tenga los recursos necesarios para acceder y beneficiarse del sistema del derecho de autor.

On August 1, 2024, the Copyright Office hosted a public webinar, Level Up Your Copyright Public Records Search, sharing ways of searching copyright public records using our pilot of the new Copyright Public Records System (CPRS). CPRS is an easy-to-navigate, highly searchable database with the ability to download, save, email, and share public records such as registration and renewal information and recorded documents. CPRS is the second component to be made publicly available as part of the Office’s expanding Enterprise Copyright System (ECS).

If you missed this webinar, you can check out the full recording and links to resources shared during the event on our website.

The sixty-minute webinar started with an introduction by Assistant Register and Director, Office of Copyright Records Denise Wofford. Wofford offered a historical overview of making copyright records publicly accessible, tracing the process from the consolidation of the Copyright Office under the Library of Congress in 1870 to the present day.

Wofford also briefly touched on the 2025 decommissioning of the legacy system that supports the existing Copyright Office Online Public Catalog. CPRS will become the sole source of authoritative online copyright information on registrations and recordations by summer 2025 upon retirement of the legacy system.

Next, Deputy Director, Office of Public Information and Education George Thuronyi demonstrated the CPRS pilot’s powerful search capabilities by sharing several examples of how users can easily conduct basic and advanced searches in CPRS by keyword, name, and title and how to download, save, and email recent searches. Thuronyi also discussed duration of copyright, which can be helpful to users when researching information about copyright registration and ownership.

Finally, Copyright Specialist Michael Goldfine of the Records Research and Certification Division provided information on supplemental on-site resources and online research and support services the Office provides to the public. His presentation included ways to request copies of records, deposit materials, and search reports in the Office’s custody and what to expect when visiting the Copyright Reading Room, which is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. except holidays.

The webinar concluded with a lively question-and-answer session, where speakers answered questions attendees submitted live ranging from “Can I see the deposit material for a registration?” to “Are there plans to include the older copyright records in CPRS currently only available onsite in your Washington, DC, location?” and much more.

Please check out the full recording and links to resources shared during the event on our website.

To stay in the loop about future Copyright Office events, check out our Events page and subscribe to our email updates.

On July 31, 2024, the U.S. Copyright Office released Part 1 of its highly anticipated report, Copyright and Artificial Intelligence. The Report addresses the legal and policy issues related to artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright, as outlined in the Office’s August 2023 notice of inquiry.

Part 1: Digital Replicas responds to the proliferation of videos, images, or audio recordings that have been digitally created or digitally manipulated to realistically but falsely depict an individual. The Office’s study of this issue, including its review of the more than 10,000 comments received in response to the August 2023 notice of inquiry, made clear that unauthorized uses of digital replicas pose a serious threat not only in the entertainment and political arenas but also for private citizens. The Office finds that existing legal protections are not sufficient to meet this threat in the age of AI and recommends that Congress enact a new federal law that protects all individuals from knowing distribution of unauthorized digital replicas. Part 1: Digital Replicas further discusses the contours of a federal digital replica law, including what kinds of replicas it should cover, whom it should protect, the term of protection, liability, licensing and assignment, First Amendment concerns, potential remedies, and the statute’s relationship to state law.

Part 1 also discusses protections against AI outputs that deliberately imitate an artist’s style. The Office acknowledges creators’ concerns and identifies some legal remedies available to them, but it does not recommend including style in the scope of a federal digital replica law.

The release of Part 1: Digital Replicas follows significant work by the Office beginning in early 2023 when the Office launched its AI initiative. Through the initiative, the Office has issued registration guidance for works incorporating AI-generated content, hosted public listening sessions and webinars attended by thousands, met with numerous experts and stakeholders, and solicited comments through a notice of inquiry in the Federal Register. The notice of inquiry closed in December 2023, and the Office has been reviewing the over 10,000 responsive comments for this Report.

As Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter noted in the foreword to the Report:

“AI raises fundamental questions for copyright law and policy, which many see as existential. To what extent will AI-generated content replace human authorship? How does human creativity differ in nature from what AI systems can generate, now or in the future? What does this mean for the incentive-based foundation of the U.S. copyright system? In what ways can the technology serve as a valuable tool to amplify human creativity and ultimately promote science and the arts? How do we respect and reward human creators without impeding technological progress?”

Part 1: Digital Replicas and forthcoming Parts of the Report will examine these questions and more. Subsequent Parts will address the copyrightability of materials created in whole or in part by generative AI, the legal implications of training AI models on copyright-protected works, licensing considerations, and the allocation of any potential liability.

For additional information about the Office’s AI initiative, visit our website and consider signing up to receive the Office’s email alerts.

Each year, Pride Month is an opportunity to reflect on the rich tapestry of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) history and culture. Originating from the Stonewall riots of 1969, Pride Month has grown into a global celebration of love, acceptance, and resilience for the LGBTQ+ community.

One aspect of LGBTQ+ culture is its literary contributions, including poetry. For the LGBTQ+ community, poetry has served as a powerful tool for empowerment and visibility. The works of poets like Walt Whitman, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker, and Allen Ginsberg, among many others, have challenged societal norms, shattered stereotypes, inspired creativity, and provided representation to countless individuals navigating their own identities.

Poetry and Copyright

Poetry as a literary work may be eligible for copyright protection. The Copyright Office offers resources to authors on registering poetry with the Office, which creates a public record of copyright ownership and provides authors with the ability to enforce their rights against infringement.

Featured Creators

Now, let’s shine a spotlight on three LGBTQ+ poets whose contributions to literature and connection to the copyright system exemplify the power of poetry as an art form for inclusion and cultural preservation.

Chen Chen

Chen Chen, a gay Chinese American poet and essayist living in Rochester, New York, has garnered acclaim for his exploration of identity, family, and queerness in his works. His debut collection of poems, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, was registered with the Office and underscores the universal themes of love, longing, and acceptance through the lens of Asian American, immigrant, and queer perspectives. He received the Thom Gun Award for Gay Poetry, the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, and he has two Pushcart Prizes and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and United States Artists.

In an interview with PEN America, Chen Chen discussed how his work helps shape his own identity, saying, “I often feel that I don’t know how I truly feel until I try writing it out. And that process might turn into a poem, or it might take another literary form or just stay as a piece of journaling. All types of writing are valuable to me, whether they end up being something published or not.” In a post shared on Instagram, he reflected on literary influences such as former U.S. Poet Laureate Louise Glück who, “shaped my desire to become a poet in the first place. Glück showed me that poetry is a vocation, one to undertake or to practice with the greatest sense of mystery and awe, and with a commitment to restless inquiry.”

Jos Charles

Jos Charles is a transgender poet in Long Beach, California, whose work challenges traditional notions of language and gender. Her critically acclaimed collection, feeld, which Charles registered with the Office, employs a unique linguistic style to deconstruct and reimagine the English language, offering a profound exploration of trans embodiment, identity, and the power of self-expression. feeld won the 2017 National Poetry Series and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Charles is also the founding-editor of THEM, the first trans literary journal in the United States.

When speaking with Lamba Literary about the motivation to create a work like feeld, Charles said, “I wanted a book that would’ve made a twelve-year-old Jos, Tolkien book in-hand, like poetry.” In an interview with Frontier Poetry, Charles mentions several poets she drew inspiration from who, “have works engaged with the re-spelling of words, the time of words, working outward toward the world from there. I draw this narrative line less to put feeld into a lineage as to say these authors were, and remain, my first and primary support—I looked towards their work, what they initiated, to find technique, drive, and precedent.”

Cheryl Clarke

Cheryl Clarke, a Black feminist lesbian poet, has been instrumental in amplifying the voices of American Black LGBTQ+ communities through her work. In an interview with Chronogram, she discussed feeling inspired by the Black Arts Movement saying, “I saw the impact of poetry in changing ideas, changing people’s minds. It certainly changed mine,” she says, citing Amiri Baraka, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Lucille Clifton, and Gwendolyn Brooks as influences. “They showed me the way, enabled me to give voice to my writing ideas.”

In addition to authoring several collections of poetry, including Narratives: Poems in the Tradition of Black Women, registered with the Office in 1983, she also published After Mecca: Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement, registered with the Office in 2005. Clarke has been honored for her powerful contributions to literature, including receiving the 2013 Kessler Award from the CUNY Center of LGBTQ+ Studies for her significant influence on the field of LGBTQ+ studies.

Copyright for All

Contributions of poets like Chen Chen, Jos Charles, and Cheryl Clarke, remind us that poetry tells important stories that enrich our culture and inspire more creativity among authors from all communities. The Copyright Office is focused on broadening awareness of what the copyright system encompasses and how to participate in it. A cornerstone of our strategic plan is Copyright for All, and the Office is dedicated to making the copyright system as understandable and accessible to as many members of the public as possible, including individuals, small entities, and historically underserved communities.

Beyond Pride Month, let us continue to celebrate the diversity of voices within the LGBTQ+ community and recognize the enduring legacy of LGBTQ+ poetry in our shared cultural heritage.

Want to learn more about LGBTQ+ history? Be sure to take a look at LGBTQIA+ Studies: A Resource Guide and read the blog post Pride at 50: From Stonewall to Today.

 

Since 1992, Americans have commemorated May as Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. This month, we explore the creativity and innovation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander graphic novelists. Through illustrations and written expression, graphic novels discuss difficult topics and share deep insights on cultural identity in a compelling and approachable way to audiences of all ages. 

 

Featured Creators 

Our featured creators, Gene Luen Yang, Robin Ha, and Thien Pham, share relatable stories about growing up. They delve into their own distinctive experiences, such as facing racism and bullying within their environment and embracing how the support of friends and family creates a much-needed sense of belonging within their new setting.

Gene Luen Yang 

Gene Luen Yang is a Chinese American cartoonist, born and raised in California to Chinese immigrants, and is a prevalent author of graphic novels. In 2016 and 2017, he served as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His book American Born Chinese was published in 2006 and won the American Library Association’s Printz Award and the Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album. It was also nominated for a National Book Award.  

American Born Chinese is still a popular and highly regarded graphic novel. Yang weaves together three storylines: a Chinese fable of the Monkey King, a coming-of-age story about Chinese American Jin Wang, who is bullied at his new school, and the tale of Chin-Kee, the utmost negative Chinese stereotype who embarrasses his cousin Danny when he visits. The colorful graphics, use of humor, and serious introspection all lead to the importance of finding your true identity—a relatable and important topic for any young person.  

Thien Pham 

Thien Pham was born in Vietnam, moving to the United States with his family as a boy. He is a graphic novelist, comic artist, and educator. He wrote and illustrated his recent book Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam. Since its publication in 2023, the book has won a YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and Barnes and Noble Best New Book of the Year. 

Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam tells a personal story of Pham’s immigration to the United States, from childhood to obtaining his citizenship as an adult. Pham features specific foods throughout the book—each dish intertwined with memories of survival, stress and instability, camaraderie, and community. By highlighting these dishes, Pham ties in a cultural identity and sets up an identifiable framework for those reading his story, no matter their background.  

Robin Ha  

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Robin Ha moved to the United States at fourteen. She grew up reading comic books and started to draw comics at an early age. Ha wrote and illustrated her book Almost American Girl, which was published in 2020. This memoir is a Harvey Award Nominee for Best Children’s or Young Adult Book.  

Almost American Girl shares Ha’s journey from South Korea to the United States as a young girl. She describes her experience of navigating a new school without understanding English, the feeling of isolation generated by culture shock, and the cruelty of being bullied as an outsider. Slowly, she builds genuine friendships, and finds connections and community through her love of comics. This work, along with the other works featured in this blog, communicates emotion in a way that allows for a closer and more profound look inside the AAPI experience.  

 

Graphic Novels and Copyright 

Graphic novels are stand-alone stories of sequential illustrations. This visual storytelling may also be accompanied by substantial text, such as dialogue and narration. Graphic novels may be created by one individual, creating both the illustrations and the text, or may be a joint work. A joint work is a work created by two or more people, with the intention to merge their contributions into inseparable or interdependent parts of a work. The Copyright Office offers resources on registering illustrations and written expression and provides further guidance on how to determine what is and what is not a joint work.  

Copyright for All  

Graphic novels use a blend of illustrations and written expression to communicate to an audience in a dynamic and compelling way and provide an immersive space for understanding. The AAPI community contributions within the realm of graphic novels are numerous and continue to grow. As new graphic novels emerge, the copyright system will continue to be accessible to all, welcoming diversity, and enriching the cultural landscape.  

One of the Office’s strategic pillars, Copyright for All, addresses the need to make the copyright system as understandable, accessible and inclusive, reaching as many members of the public as possible. The Office works to enrich the nation’s culture by empowering and connecting global copyright communities. As new innovative works are created, the Office will find ways to support those who want to share their stories with the world, building community and expanding awareness.  

The following is a guest blog post by Miriam Lord, Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Public Information and Education. 

Each year on April 26, the U.S. Copyright Office joins intellectual property organizations around the world in celebrating World Intellectual Property Day. This year’s theme, set by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is “IP and the Sustainable Development Goals: Building Our Common Future with Innovation and Creativity.” Established by the United Nations, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) serve as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.”

The copyright system is a powerful mechanism for ensuring society’s wealth of culture and knowledge. The system also helps creators sustain themselves by granting them certain exclusive rights over their works. In the United States, this concept is so central that it is enshrined in our Constitution.

“Congress shall have Power . . . 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.”

-United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8

The U.S. Copyright Office’s mission is to promote creativity and free expression by administering the nation’s copyright laws and by providing impartial, expert advice on copyright law and policy for the benefit of all. The Office sees copyright as a solution for helping to achieve the SDGs. The Copyright Office’s strategic plan shares similar goals to the SDGs, including Enhanced Use of Data and Copyright for All goals. Through its Enhanced Use of Data goal, the Office uses data to inform policies, measure performance, and advance the state of copyright knowledge. Through its Copyright for All goal, the Office prioritizes making the copyright system as easy to understand and accessible to as many people as possible.

Understanding the copyright system through data

In support of SDG Goal #8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

The Copyright Office’s economic research explores the copyright system and its effects on creators, consumers of creative works, and the public. For example, the Office has studied gender in the copyright system and published a report, Women in the Copyright System: An Analysis of Women Authors in Copyright Registrations from 1978 to 2020. The report reveals a complex and evolving picture of women’s participation in the creative professions and their use of the copyright registration system.

The Office’s economic research mission is to cultivate credible scientific evidence upon which to base copyright-relevant policy and procedural decisions. The goal is to ensure that the system works effectively for the benefit of stakeholders and the public and that it operates in a way that is consistent with policy objectives.

Office staff recently sat down with Brent Lutes, the Office’s first chief economist, to discuss the intersection of economics and copyright. Lutes describes how the goal of copyright is to enhance the welfare of society by promoting access to creative works now and in the future by promoting cultural and scientific innovation. He explains what behavioral incentives are created by the copyright system, and highlights the importance of rigorous economic research to policymaking. Read more about the Office’s published and forthcoming economic research reports in the recent blog post “The Economics of Creativity: A Q&A with the Copyright Office’s Chief Economist.”

Visit the Copyright Office’s website to learn more about our economic research agenda, and to access our dataset.

Providing education about the copyright system

In support of SDG Goal #4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

The more the Copyright Office knows about who is using the copyright system, the more targeted its work can be to broaden its educational reach and expand access. The Office’s research informs its education and outreach strategy.

Through expanding its education and outreach, the Copyright Office saw a 25 percent uptick in events and speaking engagements year over year in fiscal year 2023. Office staff interact with diverse audiences all over the country, from students and educators at all levels, to business and legal advisors, and across creative business sectors.

The Office exhibits and speaks about the copyright system at major conventions reaching thousands of people from around the world: for example, tabling at the Consumer Electronics Show, and tabling and hosting a panel at South by Southwest.

Leveraging its position within the Library of Congress, the Copyright Office provides in-person lifelong learning for all ages. For example, in the fall of 2023, the Office supported Junior Girl Scout Day at the Library, an empowering opportunity that enabled girls (and their parents) to learn about being both a user and a creator in the copyright system as they worked toward earning their Inside Government badge.

In response to increased demand for education about copyright, the Office launched a pilot webinar program this spring, called Copyright Essentials: Myths Explained. This well-received program attracted nearly 850 live attendees, and the recording is now available to view. In the program, two attorney-advisors in the Office of Public Information and Education sifted through copyright fact and fiction and pointed the public to helpful resources for musicians, photographers, visual artists, and writers.

The Office’s Spanish Language educational resources are growing, and those with questions can contact the Office in English or Spanish for assistance through the Public Information Office.

The Office uses its social media and blog platforms to highlight inclusion in the copyright system. For example, the Office’s blog has featured Sarah Beth Morgan, an animation director, illustrator, and muralist who is committed to advocating for women in the creative industries. The blog also featured media mogul and entrepreneur Olivia Morris, who has dedicated her career to shining a light on “people of color and colorful people” through artistic expression. Sharing stories about creators like Morgan and Morris allows the Office to illustrate the many ways that the copyright system works for the benefit of everyone.

Engage with the Office

Join the Copyright Office, along with collaborators in the intellectual property (IP) system, to observe World IP Day on May 1, 2024. Hear more from the Office and from across sectors about how IP advances the progress of science and the useful arts and builds our common future. Register to attend online.

In 2022, the U.S. Copyright Office welcomed Dr. Brent Lutes to serve as the Office’s first chief economist. Office staff recently sat down with Dr. Lutes and discussed the intersection of economics and copyright as well as some forthcoming economic research the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) is producing.

What is the mission of the Office of the Chief Economist?

As chief economist, my work is focused on cultivating scientific evidence to help inform decisions that are relevant to both copyright policy and the administration of copyright systems. I advise Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter and other senior officials on how these decisions may impact the Copyright Office, key copyright stakeholders like creators and consumers, and the general public. Through these efforts, OCE plays an important role in helping the Copyright Office achieve its strategic goals.

OCE is located within the Office of Policy and International Affairs and is composed of a small team of economists. We collaborate with colleagues from the academic community, from other U.S. government agencies, and from intellectual property offices around the world to produce policy-relevant research. We’re also producing tools that can be used by others outside the Copyright Office to help expedite research relevant to copyright policy.

The copyright system is operationalized through laws and policies, but those laws and policies are often aimed at achieving economic goals. That’s why we typically see a collaboration between economic and legal experts in intellectual property. It’s only natural that the Office wants to have both legal and economic expertise.

What economic goals does copyright achieve?

Copyright is fundamentally an economic issue. Before I explain what that means, let me dispel some misunderstandings about economics. When thinking about economics, people may think about money and finance. Economists do look at those things, but very often we’re looking at those things as a measure of something else. In particular, we’re looking at those things to measure social welfare. And we’re using those things to gauge the incentives that influence how people choose to behave. While money and finance are aspects of economics, that’s not what the core of the field is; rather, the study of economics is centered on incentives and social welfare.

With this in mind, it’s not hard to see that copyright is intended to achieve an economic goal through an economic mechanism. That goal is to enhance the welfare of society by promoting access to creative works now and in the future by promoting cultural and scientific innovation. We are trying to reach that goal through market-based behavioral incentives. Copyright gives creators some degree of market power around the consumption of their creative works. Through that market power, creators are able to capture some of the value that is inherent in their work, for example, by selling access to it (a transaction that is only possible if access is otherwise restricted, such as, through copyright). The anticipated proceeds from these sorts of transactions provide both the incentives and the means by which creators produce creative works.

How does producing policy-relevant research on copyright impact the Copyright Office, copyright stakeholders, and the general public?

Policymakers create optimal policy based on the information that is available to them. One limitation in copyright policymaking is that there isn’t always enough clear, reliable information available. By producing rigorous economic research, we’re improving the depth and quality of information that policy makers can use to help move us closer to what might be optimal policy. And that is of broad benefit—when we’re talking about optimal policy, we’re talking about enhancing social welfare.

What are some of OCE’s forthcoming reports?

OCE will soon be releasing several reports:

• First, we have a forthcoming report on the geographic distribution of copyright activity. It’s useful for us to explore where the concentration of creative activity is, both individually and commercially, to help us better understand users of the copyright system and focus the Office’s outreach efforts. So far, we’ve found that creative activities are largely concentrated where one would expect, but some surprising creative enclaves show up in the data. We’ve also learned a lot about the types of creators that tend to be most reliant on copyright protection.
• Second, we have a forthcoming report on the demographic characteristics of creators. One of the interesting things we’re learning from this study is that racial and ethnic diversity is highly correlated with creative output. We are still working to understand what the drivers of these correlations are, but knowing that such a robust relationship exists is a helpful step toward better understanding the factors relevant to creative ecosystems.
• Third, we’ll be releasing a study examining the impact and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic on employment, revenues, and creative outputs in creative industries. The study identifies which industries and which U.S. states experienced the largest impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic and, subsequently, which returned to their pre-pandemic trends. Our analysis also reveals other potentially useful observations, such as shifts in the sources of creative activity.
• Fourth, OCE is involved in the Office’s ongoing fee-setting process. As part of the current fee study (the process that occurs roughly every five or six years before we recalibrate our fees), OCE is conducting statistical analyses to project the impact of fee changes on copyright registration and recordation activities.

What implications does AI have for economic frameworks of copyright policy?

As many are aware, the Copyright Office has been very active in examining copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence (AI) technology. It’s also important for us to understand the economic factors at stake.

Development of AI technology is going to have very meaningful implications for the economic frameworks of copyright policy. For example, AI can make the production of creative works by human creators much less costly, thereby increasing creative output and access to it. In contrast, the work produced by generative AI can, in many contexts, directly compete with traditional human creators, thereby decreasing their creative output. In fact, there are many complex and often countervailing factors inherent in generative AI that will affect the creative ecosystem, and economists have only just begun to explore those.

To help expedite research in this area and coordinate the research community, OCE, earlier this year, convened an economic roundtable on AI and copyright policy. We invited ten highly regarded economists, each with targeted expertise in relevant areas, to discuss what empirical and theoretical evidence should be developed to make well-informed policy decisions. We are drafting a report that will come out later this year providing a careful examination of the very nuanced economic issues along with guidance for the research community on what research would be most impactful for policy decisions. Our hope is that this will help bridge the gap between researchers and policy makers in a very productive way.

Are there any other research areas that OCE is focused on?  

Another area of research my team and I are focused on relates to what we refer to as “rights of publicity,” meaning protection of one’s image, likeness, voice, or even style. New technologies have made copying these things easier. Rights of publicity have long been protected at some level within various states, but so far there aren’t any harmonized federal laws dealing with them. For those reasons, rights of publicity have been the focus of increased attention from federal legislators. However, there is little reliable empirical evidence available on what the effects of these rights may be on creative output.

To help remedy this gap in research, OCE is collaborating with some of our international colleagues at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to develop an understanding of how these rights of publicity might effective the creative ecosystem and the commerce that arises around it.

Lastly, I want to mention OCE’s research on notices of termination, an interesting nuance of copyright policy that not a lot of people outside of the legal world are aware of but could benefit certain creators. Essentially, the Copyright Act permits creators or their heirs, under certain circumstances, to unilaterally terminate transfers or licenses they have granted to a third party. The intention is to give creators a second chance to share in the later economic success of their works. However, there is very limited empirical research around termination rights, so it’s hard to know the extent to which they are achieving that goal and what other effects (intended or otherwise) these rights have on the creative ecosystem. We now have complete data on statutory copyright terminations, and we’re currently using that data to lay the foundation for gaining such understanding.

Where is the economic copyright research space headed?

Although there has been a dedicated core of researchers studying the economics of copyright, the research has historically been somewhat constrained (compared to other sub fields of economics) by the difficulty in obtaining reliable data.

The reason this constraint matters is that, while economists think a lot about economic theory and how to understand economic activity, at the end of the day, it’s critical to use data to validate our theories and enrich our understandings. I am proud to oversee OCE’s release of a comprehensive and very large dataset of copyright registrations going back more than forty years, with about twenty million copyright registrations. The dataset also includes a host of other types of records such as copyright transfers, terminations, copyright collateralized financial agreements, and much more. Every day we’re finding new ways to use that data and to make it accessible to more people. We’re on the precipice of an expansion to the economic copyright research space, and it’s exciting to be a part of that.

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Find more information about the Copyright Office’s economic research agenda, published and forthcoming reports, and publicly available research datasets on the Copyright Office’s Economic Research webpage.

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 Jackson, similarly commented on Justice O’Connor’s trailblazing career and life. They fondly remembered witnessing her momentous nomination by President Reagan in 1981 and remarked on her leading example, grace, and grit.

Justice O’Connor’s strength of character is often traced back to her early life growing up in the American Southwest. She spent her childhood on a cattle ranch straddling the border of Arizona and New Mexico in desert country. While perhaps most famous for her writing as a Supreme Court justice, she also wrote creative literary works, including the book Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest. Cowritten with her brother, Alan Day, the novel contains photographs from the family’s collection and personal memories that trace her strong work ethic. The book was registered with the Copyright Office in 2002 while Justice O’Connor was still active on the Supreme Court. In 2004, two years before she retired, she registered another book, The Majesty of the Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice. She undoubtedly understood the importance of copyright, both as a creator and an influential legal figure.

During her nearly twenty-five years with the Supreme Court, Justice O’Connor wrote the majority opinion for an important decision on copyright law, Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., Inc. Citing a previous fair use decision, Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. National Enterprises, which she also penned, Feist reiterated that facts are not protected by copyright and explained why. A work must be original—independently created by an author and possessing at least some minimal degree of creativity—to be copyrightable. The Office continues to cite Feist in Review Board opinions for administrative appeals of copyright registration refusals.

Justice O’Connor referred to the originality requirement as the “touchstone” and “bedrock principle” of copyright and, most importantly, a constitutional requirement. She frequently expressed and exhibited a deep appreciation for the Constitution. In her last archived remarks from February 2015, she recounted an event where she told an audience of young people the routine contents of her purse: a wallet, tissues, a compact, and a copy of the Constitution. In her 2018 letter announcing her retirement from public life, she noted “how vital it is for all citizens to understand our Constitution and unique system of government, and participate actively in their communities.”

She modeled these values, from her time as Arizona’s Assistant Attorney General to her appointments on the Arizona State Senate and Arizona Court of Appeals before her historic nomination to the Supreme Court as the first female justice. After her retirement, she founded iCivics in 2009, a nonprofit organization with a goal of transforming civic education for K-12 students nationwide. Featuring online games and resources, iCivics content is still used by millions of students and teachers across all fifty states. Justice O’Connor’s commitment to the youth of America was inspiring, and she even wrote two children’s books, Chico and Finding Susie, which were also registered with the Copyright Office.

Justice O’Connor’s legal and creative contributions to society exemplify the value of diversity in maintaining a successful copyright system. Often inspired by the communities around her, she once said, “We don’t accomplish anything in this world alone . . . and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.” The Copyright Office celebrates the legacy she created and leaves behind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 commercial animation and illustrations. She is a teaching artist who has also produced several virtual art courses.

Morgan knew she was interested in art at a very young age, but it wasn’t until she began applying to colleges while in high school that she learned she could choose art as a career path. She says she felt right at home when touring art schools the summer of her junior year. “It was so cool to be around other creative people 24/7.”

Morgan works in the animation field of “motion graphics,” where she brings graphic shapes, typography, and characters to life. She defines her creative style as “playful, quirky, and maybe even a little bit unexpected.” Her most recent animation, Between Lines, is a short film about “the scarring experience of schoolgirl bullying—and the recovery that follows.” The film has received several accolades, including the Audience Award for Animation at the Brooklyn Film Festival as well as Official Selection at Pictoplasma Berlin and the SCAD Savannah Film Festival.

Morgan shares with us her creative process:

Typically, I start by working to conceptualize and storyboard an animation, depending on the client’s brief or script. Then, I illustrate a set of “styleframes” that depict different points of time in the intended animation (or a whole team of designers does this together!) . . . [then] I take on more of a directing role for the animation phase . . . I’ll help my project producer hire a team of talented animators that can work to make these illustrated styleframes move. From this point on, I’m typically giving feedback, providing draw-overs, and making sure all of the client notes are hit before delivery. There’s a lot more intricacy to it, but that’s the gist!”

Animation is an example of a motion picture, which is a type of work that can be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Motion Pictures are works that contain a series of related images that are intended to be shown with a projector, digital display, or other device. When the images are shown in successive order, they create an impression of movement that is perceptible to the eye. The Copyright Office offers resources on registering a motion picture and provides ways to help grow a creative business in Copyright Registration at a Glance.

Women creators are an essential part of the copyright system, and participating in it allows women artists to benefit economically from their creative works. In 2022, the Copyright Office released a report, Women in the Copyright System: An Analysis of Women Authors in Copyright Registrations from 1978 to 2020. It found that women creators are significantly underrepresented in registrations, especially compared to their participation in copyright-intensive industries, despite an overall positive trend over time.

Morgan highlights this community through her work, noting that assembling her own diverse creative teams “[L]ed to a lot of different connections between the thirty-plus women who worked on the project.” She added, “I personally feel like it helped create a more robust female/nonbinary community in the male-dominant animation industry.”

Sarah Beth Morgan is one of many women who enhance our nation’s creative landscape. The Copyright Office aims to broaden public awareness of what copyright encompasses and how to participate in it. A cornerstone of the Office’s current strategic plan is the advancement of Copyright for All, and the Office is committed to making the copyright system as clear and accessible to as many members of the public as possible, particularly individuals, small businesses, and historically underserved populations.

More than one year ago, the U.S. Copyright Office launched a comprehensive initiative to examine the impact of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) on copyright law and policy. This blog post highlights the next steps of this ongoing study and summarizes a recent update to Congress from Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter.

Over the coming months, the Office will issue a report, published in several sections, analyzing the impact of AI on copyright and making recommendations about any legislative or regulatory action. The first section will focus on digital replicas, or the use of AI to digitally replicate individuals’ appearances, voices, or other aspects of their identities. This section will be published later this spring.

The second section, to be published this summer, will address the copyrightability of works incorporating AI-generated material. Later sections will focus on the topic of training AI models on copyrighted works as well as any licensing considerations and liability issues. The Office’s goal is to finalize the entire report by the end of the fiscal year.

Separately, the Office will publish an update to the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, the administrative manual for registration. The update, which will follow a public notice requesting comments, will include further guidance and examples relating to the registration of works containing AI-generated material.

Additionally, the Office has brought together a group of government and academic economists to discuss the economic aspects of the intersection of copyright and AI. Later this year, the Office will publish the group’s proposed research agenda.

New announcements, updates, and publications will be posted on the Copyright and Artificial Intelligence webpage throughout the rest of this fiscal year. Subscribe to the Office’s NewsNets to stay up to date on the Office’s AI initiative.

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 copyright concepts and the Office to those who may be new to the topics or want to learn more about the copyright system and the Office’s work. The videos are all available on the Office’s website and official YouTube channel. Some of the other videos in the series are a feline-filled video about copyright on the internet, an explainer on fair use, a video that answers the question, “what is the public domain?,” and a video about copyright owners’ exclusive rights.

The new video outlines the history of copyright law and the Office from the writing of the U.S. Constitution through today. Copyright law in the U.S. finds its roots in the Constitution. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 gives Congress the power 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.”

Initially, copyright registration took place in U.S. district courts, with the first copyright entry, the Philadelphia Spelling Book by John Barry, in the U.S. District Court of Pennsylvania in 1790. Beginning in 1870, the Library of Congress assumed copyright activities, notably registration, and with its establishment in 1897, the Copyright Office became a separate department within the Library of Congress. Throughout this time and beyond, Congress updated copyright law by extending protection to new types of works, adding new exclusive rights, and increasing the length of the copyright term.

The video traces these key changes throughout the late eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, and documents a large shift in the copyright system after the passing of the Copyright Act of 1976. As the video moves through developments in the latter half of the twentieth century, audiences see how copyright law adapted to new and emerging technologies and changes in the global conversation about intellectual property. Finally, the video brings audiences into the twenty-first century and highlights two major amendments to copyright law, with the recent passage of the Music Modernization Act in 2018 and the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act in 2020.

Watch the new video to learn more and trace these changes over time:

Learn more about the history of copyright law, including the Office’s history, in our comprehensive timeline and learn more about the services we provide on our website.

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.

Featured in the Copyright Office exhibit Find Yourself in Copyright, The Color Purple explores the trials and triumphs of Black women in the 1930s rural South. Applauded for uniquely weaving together themes of African American and feminist literature, the novel won the National Book Award for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983, making Walker the first Black woman to receive the prize.

In an interview with ArtsATL, Walker said that, as she was forced to the back of the bus as she went off to Spelman College, she thought “enough of this already,” and that she could do something to fight the racism her parents thought they’d have to endure forever. Walker transferred to Sarah Lawrence College, and after graduation, moved to Mississippi and got involved in the civil rights movement. These experiences influenced her writing and inspired the story in The Color Purple. The book follows the story of Celie, a Black teenage girl in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. The story unfolds partially through Celie’s letters to God as she navigates her troubled life of abuse at the hands of her father and then from her husband.

The book has inspired film and musical adaptations, known as derivative works, of the same name. The movie, released in 1985 and directed by Steven Spielberg, was nominated for eleven Academy Awards. The musical premiered on Broadway in 2004 and has seen success in productions in the United States and around the world. Most recently, in 2023, The Color Purple was adapted into a derivative film as a period drama musical, further incorporating elements from the original book, film, and musical.

In addition, Walker has authored many novels, short story collections, and volumes of poems. Her most recent work, Gathering Blossoms Under Fire, is a collection of her journals, and the registration for the audiobook is also in the Office’s public records. With translations into more than two dozen languages, her works have sold more than fifteen million copies. Along with her Pulitzer Prize, Walker was awarded the Mahmoud Darwish Literary Prize for Fiction, was one of the inaugural inductees into the California Hall of Fame (in The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts), and was awarded the Lennon/Ono Peace Grant.

Walker is a trailblazer who continues to inspire African American creators. The Copyright Office aims to broaden public awareness of what the copyright system encompasses and how to participate. A cornerstone of our current strategic plan is Copyright for All, and the Office dedicates itself to making the copyright system as understandable and accessible to as many members of the public as possible. This year’s Black History Month theme of Celebrating African Americans and the Arts aligns with this goal.

 

 

 

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 intellectual property?

Copyright is a type of intellectual property (IP) that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression. Intellectual property rights protect creations of the mind. This includes copyrightable creative works—but also inventions protected by patents, brands protected by trademarks, and commercially valuable information protected under trade secret law. Unlike some other areas of IP, which require government action to secure protection, copyright protection is automatic—although registration with the Copyright Office confers additional benefits.

Copyright law arises from Article I, section 8 of the Constitution, which grants Congress the power, “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.” The Copyright Act describes that the exclusive rights of copyright owners include the right to use and give permission for others to use the work in many ways—making copies of and distributing the work, creating derivative works, and publicly performing or displaying the work. As the Constitution provided, Congress may only provide these rights for “limited times.” The first federal copyright law, dating back to 1790, protected registered works for fourteen years with a fourteen-year renewal option. Today, the term of copyright protection lasts for the author’s life plus an additional seventy years.

When copyright protection ends, a work enters the public domain, and the exclusive rights granted by copyright no longer exist. This means the work may be reproduced without permission, may be performed or displayed publicly, and may also be used in the creation of new works, such as adaptations and translations. However, even when copyright protection ends and a work is in the public domain, it is important to note that it may still be subject to other protections.[i]

Below are just a few of the historical and cultural works that entered the public domain in 2024.

Motion Pictures

Steamboat Willie

In what is widely regarded as a landmark work of animation, Steamboat Willie is the first film with sound to feature the characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Walt Disney produced Steamboat Willie strictly with sound at the forefront of his mind, and it resulted in huge success. The film was registered with the Copyright Office in 1928 and later inducted into the National Film Registry in 1998.

One element of a motion picture that can be protected by copyright is the animation, which refers to the rapid display of a series of still images to create the illusion of motion. The animation in Steamboat Willie shows early versions of the characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse. This Mickey appears without some of the features audiences know him for today, including his red shorts and white gloves. Copyright never protected the names “Mickey Mouse” or “Minnie Mouse,” nor the general idea for “talking mice” characters. However, copyright protected the particular depictions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse seen in Steamboat Willie—that is, the artistic renditions of the characters in visual form. Upon entering the public domain this year, the entire film—including the animation portraying the characters, soundtrack, and other elements—is no longer protected by copyright. This means, among other things, creators can use the film to create another original work, such as a new film of any genre (action, drama, comedy, animation, etc.), soundtrack, or artwork.

White Shadows in the South Seas

The screenplay for the film White Shadows in the South Seas is based on the novel of the same name by Frederick O’Brien. The film was released in 1928, was directed by W. S. Van Dyke, and stars Mone Blue and Raquel Torres. The plot follows Dr. Matthew Lloyd, who washes ashore on a remote island where the inhabitants have never seen a white person before.

The film won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography by Clyde De Vinna. It features a pre-recorded soundtrack, including synchronized music and sound effects of cries, laughs, whistling, and a single spoken word, “hello,” making it the first Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film with sound. The film was registered with the Copyright Office in November 1928. Learn more about copyright in motion pictures in the Office’s resource Copyright Registration for Motion Pictures Including Video Recordings (Circular 45).

Musical Works

“Thinking Blues”

Bessie Smith was an early twentieth century African American blues singer who experienced the peak of her popularity during the roaring twenties. Smith began her career as a recording artist in 1923 when she signed to Columbia Records, and she went on to record over 150 songs.

Many songs by Ms. Smith entered the public domain this January. Among them is “Thinking Blues,” a direct song where she asks an anonymous love: “Have you got the nerve to say that you don’t want me no more?” She registered the unpublished words and melody of the song on February 21, 1928, a year she experienced much success before the Great Depression of 1929 diminished her popularity. Smith remains a central and influential figure in African American music and history.

Other 1928 songs by Smith now in the public domain include “Boa Constrictor Blues,” “Pick Pocket Blues,” and “Sneakin’ Lizard Blues.”

Written Works

Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle

Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, the eleventh novel of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan series, enters the public domain this January. After many failed business ventures, Burroughs published the first book of the series, Tarzan of the Apes, in 1914. Today, the contents of the series have been translated into over fifty-six languages. The series follows the life of Tarzan, who is shipwrecked and marooned in Africa with his parents during his infancy. When his parents die shortly after their accident, Tarzan later gets taken into the care of apes.

Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle was registered with the Copyright Office on September 17, 1928. It centers on Tarzan’s encounters with European knights and slave traders in the African jungle. The Tarzan series serves as the basis for many derivative works still protected by copyright, including a 1976–1980 animated television series and a 1999 animated film adaptation. Tarzan also serves as the inspiration for the name of Tarzana, a community in Los Angeles County, California, where Burroughs lived and is buried.

 

The Mystery of the Blue Train

Agatha Christie, the best-selling author of all time behind only William Shakespeare, published The Mystery of the Blue Train on March 29, 1928. In total, Christie wrote over 200 works, including 66 crime novels, 150 short stories, and over 30 plays, and was published over 2 billion times in over 100 different languages.

The Mystery of the Blue Train follows the mysterious death of an American heiress aboard a train, Le Train Bleu, on the way from England to the French Riviera. The book features the detective work of Hercule Poirot, the central detective of some of Christie’s most successful novels, including The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, and Death on the Nile. In April 1928, Christie registered the book with the Copyright Office.

Dark Princess

Activist, sociologist, historian, and author W. E. B. DuBois left a legacy with regards to his fight for African Americans’ rights, including co-founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. Among his writings is his second novel, Dark Princess, which he described as a romance with a message. In the novel, racist laws prevent the main character, Matthew Towns, from finishing his studies. He falls in love with Princess Kautilya, and they work to liberate the whites-only world they live in, which interferes with their love and separates them. The book was registered with the Copyright Office in April 1928.

Millions of Cats

The children’s book Millions of Cats, written and illustrated by Wanda Gág, is the oldest picture book still in print in the United States. It won a Newberry Honor Medal in 1929, which is awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished book for children. In the story, a wife sends her husband out for a cat, but each time he finds a cat, he decides to take it home. Gág’s brother hand-lettered the text in the book, which includes catchy refrains that Gág used to tell the story across a double-page spread of black-and-white illustrations. The book was registered with the Copyright Office in September 1928.

[i] For more information about researching the copyright status of any work, access our website. The resources How to Investigate the Copyright Status of a Work (Circular 22) and How to Obtain Permission (Circular 16A) may be particularly helpful. To learn more about patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, visit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s website. For legal advice, please contact an attorney.

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 million items, amounting to the most complete and accurate collection of copyright records of ownership in the world. From researching ownership to determine if a work is in the public domain or for licensing purposes, to identifying unpublished works by a particular artist, to investigating whether your ancestors registered any creative works during their lifetime, the Office maintains the record of creative endeavors in the United States.

What is CPRS?

CPRS is a pilot running in parallel to our legacy Copyright Public Catalog, and it will eventually become the official public record of copyright information in the United States.¹ CPRS uses a more powerful search engine than the Public Catalog, provides easy filtering capabilities, and follows user-centered design principles that align with the Office’s expanding Enterprise Copyright System (ECS). Users can easily conduct searches in CPRS by keyword, name, and title and conduct advanced searches using detailed registration and recordation filters.

Users can visit CPRS and begin searching the Office’s records today!

Digitization of Card Catalog Records

The card catalog is the finding aid that enables users to find Office records from 1870 through 1977. In mid-December 2022, the Office started adding images and searchable metadata from the card catalog’s registration application cards to CPRS. Registration applications in catalog card size were first used in 1898 and were filed in the card catalog as the claimant entry. The available registration application cards date between 1909 and 1945. We continue to add thousands of digitized card records to CPRS every month, and the Office will soon start uploading cards dating back to 1898.

The inclusion of digitized card catalog records with searchable metadata is a huge step forward for the Office’s modernization journey. In total, the entire card catalog contains over forty million cards, covering the period from 1870² through 1977 and including author cards, title cards, claimant cards, and content cards.³ Searching “drawer by drawer” in the Virtual Card Catalog (VCC) or physically coming to the Madison Building in Washington, DC, to access the cards in person presents a barrier to access. Adding these card images with searchable metadata online in CPRS gives access to more creators, owners, and researchers worldwide.

Among the first one million card catalog records are registration application cards for classic American novels like Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, as well as the 1940 film adaption of The Grapes of Wrath from Twentieth Century Fox. You will also find the beloved children’s book Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, a 1940 registration for an unpublished version of White Christmas by Irving Berlin, Betty Smith’s novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a poster from the New York World’s Fair in 1939–1940, Zora Neale Huston’s autobiography Dust Tracks on a Road, and so many more.

What is a Registration Application Card?

The registration application card was designed for creators to use from 1898 through 1945 to provide the Office with essential data about their creative works, which you can read about in the next section. In practice, applicants filled out the card, and then works were indexed by card and recorded in a ledger of registrations by registration number. These numbers are now part of the Copyright Record Books collection, which is available onsite for researchers visiting the Library of Congress and is in the process of being digitized for online reference. Some application cards were more complex than others, but historically, skilled catalogers could cross-reference information within different records to help researchers find what they needed. One disadvantage to this process is that researchers need to know the trained procedures that catalogers use to find what they are looking for, making the research process very time-consuming.

Anatomy of a Registration Application Card

As the Office celebrates over one million registration application cards in CPRS and greater access to both historical and current copyright records, let’s take a closer look at an application card to get a better sense of the fields applicants may have had to fill out.

Please note: The Office used different versions of registration application cards from 1898 through 1945. Copyright law throughout this time required some of the same and some different information for registration than is required today. Additionally, the field arrangement on the application cards differed depending on the date of the registration, the type of work being registered, and the specific class or subclass required for the application.

Other Types of Card Catalog Records and Resources

The Office has developed a variety of similar resources to help researchers navigate the layouts and abbreviations on other types of card catalog records. While the Office is focused on adding registration application cards to CPRS, other cards, like author cards, title cards, claimant cards, and content cards, are still available and searchable in the VCC or in person. Users who come across these other cards now can refer to the Card Layouts in the Copyright Card Catalog handout for more information. Additionally, all users can turn to the Abbreviations Used in the Copyright Card Catalog handout for help deciphering some of the shortened text on the cards and the Description of Copyright Deposits by Classification handout for a comprehensive breakdown of the abbreviations used for different classifications of works. More resources are also available on the Copyright Public Records Portal webpage.

Researchers can make appointments to visit the Office to conduct research in person or request research support for a fee. Get more information, including the Copyright Reading Room’s hours and general information about conducting research at the Office, on our website.

The Office’s digitization work is an exciting component of our modernization project and supports two key pillars of our 2022–2026 Strategic Plan: Continuous Development and Copyright for All. Placing these card catalog records online makes them—and the copyright system—more accessible to as many people as possible. Check out CPRS today and take a look!

 

¹The CPRS pilot is under development and is not the final version of the CPRS. This pilot does not replace or supersede the online Public Catalog or existing search practices the Copyright Office has established. Results obtained through the CPRS pilot should not be used for legal purposes. Note that there may be a delay of a day or more in the results displayed in this system as compared to the official online catalog.

²Copyright was enshrined in the U.S. Constitution in 1790, but the first registration for copyright made at the Library of Congress was not until 1870.

³For a brief history of copyright in the United States, check out the timeline on our website.

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 Reservation Dogs, a critically acclaimed television series registered with the Office in 2021 that aired its third and final season in September 2023. Television series like Reservation Dogs are just one example of the different types of art forms protected under copyright law.

Reservation Dogs features a large array of Native American talent, including Sterlin Harjo, one of the series’ two creators. Moreover, the show features a cast of Native American actors, including Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Paulina Alexis, and brothers Lil Mike and Funnybone (known collectively as Mike Bone) and many Native American writers, including Bobby Wilson, Tommy Pico, Dallas Goldtooth, and Erica Tremblay. In addition, the series hosts various Native American guest directors such as Sydney Freeland, Tazbah Chavez, and Danis Goulet. It even features a cameo of former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo during season 2, episode 9.

The show provides viewers with a modern depiction of Native American youth in America. It follows the lives of four Native American teenagers living in the Muscogee Nation in rural Oklahoma, a place they dream to leave in hopes of moving to California. While the series often integrates comedy in its approach, its subject matter unravels the realities of being Native, both in terms of enduring racial inequities and preserving and celebrating Native American culture.

The series has been well received, both by the public and by critics. It garnered a Peabody Award for its first season in 2021 and a nomination for its second season in 2022, an elite recognition that honors skillful storytelling. Reservation Dogs also received nominations for prestigious television broadcasting awards such as the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards.

The copyright system incentivizes the production of new creative works, including television series like Reservation Dogs, episodes of which are registered as motion pictures. Copyright in a motion picture protects only the expression fixed in the media (including camera work, dialogue, and sounds)—not the idea or concept behind the work. To read more about what copyright protects in motion pictures, see Copyright Registration for Motion Pictures, Including Video Recordings (Circular 45).

The Copyright Office aims to broaden public awareness of what the copyright system encompasses and how to participate. A cornerstone of our current strategic plan is Copyright for All, and the Office dedicates itself to making the copyright system as understandable and accessible to as many members of the public as possible.

Read more about Native American creators and their works on our blog.

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 $30,000. It is an alternative to federal court, the only other tribunal available to resolve copyright disputes.

The CCB was created pursuant to the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act of 2020 and is intended to be a fair, efficient, and streamlined venue for those claimants who want to avoid the costs, time, complexity, and other barriers posed by federal court litigation. It is also voluntary, meaning respondents may opt out of a CCB proceeding after being served with a claim filed with the CCB.

Under the CASE Act, the CCB may hear three types of claims: (1) claims of infringement of a copyright, (2) claims seeking declarations that specific activities do not infringe copyright, and (3) claims of “misrepresentations” in notices sent under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).¹

As we approach the eighteen-month mark of the CCB’s operations, let’s revisit a conversation with the three Copyright Claims Officers, David Carson, Monica McCabe, and Brad Newberg, from the one-year anniversary. Their comments have been updated with current statistics and trends based on changes between June and October 2023. Here, the Officers share their thoughts about the Board’s work and where things are heading next.²

On the Board’s work and how copyright owners and users are responding to it.

Brad Newberg: The CCB has been extremely well-received, and we are proud of what we have accomplished. In our first year, we saw close to 500 filed claims. The diversity of claimants and respondents, as well as the types of copyright-protected works implicated, shows that the CCB has increased the public’s access to a lower-cost and more efficient copyright dispute resolution. To date, parties appearing before the CCB range from individuals and small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. Claimants come from forty-five states plus Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and over twenty-eight countries.

Parties are also taking advantage of the CCB’s ease of use and the ability to represent themselves. Parties can still hire attorneys, but over 70 percent have been self-represented, whether as an individual or as an in-house counsel or employee of a business.

On trends the Board has noted.

David Carson: We have noticed a few things, confirmed by our statistics, that might surprise some observers:

• First, since the day we opened our doors, claims have come in at a fairly steady, consistent rate, averaging just short of two claims filed per business day.
• Second, many people expected most infringement claims filed in the CCB to be brought by photographers. In fact, while we have more infringement claims involving photographs than for any other single type of work, the majority of infringement claims we have received involve works other than photographs. (See Figure 1)
• Third, so far, the rate of respondents who are opting out has been lower than some external observers anticipated. We actually have had more cases become active than we have had cases where the respondent has opted out.
• Fourth, approximately 40 percent of all claimants have chosen our more streamlined “smaller claims track” option, which is available for claimants who are willing to accept a damages cap of $5,000. Smaller claims proceed before a single Copyright Claims Officer, who works with the parties to permit only narrowly tailored exchanges of information. Following the parties’ submission of written statements and evidence, that Officer meets with the parties to discuss the case before presenting them with written findings of fact. (See Figure 2)

What is not surprising is that while we have received claims for declarations of noninfringement and for misrepresentations in takedown notices or counter-notices, the vast majority of claims brought before the CCB have been for infringement.

Brad Newberg: From the numbers of different types of claims filed, to a breakdown of the types of works discussed in each claim, and more, we are looking forward to sharing more information and observations with the public over the next year.

On the ways in which the CCB is accessible to all users, with or without an attorney.

Monica McCabe: When establishing processes and procedures for the Board, we tried our best to make them accessible to non-lawyers, as Congress intended. Examples include the following:

• Streamlined discovery procedures automatically eliminate many of the complexities that may pose a barrier to pro se parties litigating in federal court.
• The CCB’s electronic filing system, eCCB, was designed to be far more user-friendly than most, if not all, previously existing legal filing options. For example, eCCB provides a fillable form for claims that walks the party through a series of questions, giving them information and tips along the way.
• The CCB has created a detailed Handbook with more than twenty chapters that parties can reference depending on where they are in a proceeding.

While copyright claims attorneys cannot give legal advice, parties can email asktheboard@ccb.gov for procedural questions and help navigating the process. Moreover, the CCB has a webpage identifying law schools and pro bono organizations available to help.

Brad Newberg: The compliance system set up by the statute has also been helpful to many claimants. When a claim is filed, it goes through a compliance review to see if it follows the rules and whether the claimant has provided enough information to allow a claim to move forward and for the respondent and the CCB to understand it.

The claimant is given two chances beyond the initial claim filing to make corrections. In the first year, more than fifty previously “noncompliant” claims were amended and later found compliant through this process.

On areas where some parties have had the most difficulty navigating.

Monica McCabe: I will start by saying that some parties have no difficulty with the process, but since most of the parties in our proceedings appear to have little or no prior experience with litigation, it’s to be expected that many will have a steep learning curve.

We try to make it easy to draft a claim by presenting claimants with specific questions to answer in the claim form, but when it comes to describing an act of infringement or misrepresentation, some claimants have difficulty focusing on the elements of the claim. We often suggest attaching the work at issue because, as the old adage says, a picture can be worth 1,000 words. Our Handbook is also a great resource for pro se claimants navigating this process on their own.

David Carson: Service of process has also proved to be a hurdle for many claimants. The CASE Act requires that respondents be served in the same way they are served as they would be if sued in court, and the Board has noticed that navigating the rules regarding service can be difficult for non-lawyers. Because the available options for service depend in part on the state in which the respondent is being served, it’s impossible to come up with a one-size-fits-all guide on how to serve process in CCB proceedings. We encourage claimants who are having difficulty serving the respondent to correspond with us via email or to contact one of the entities listed in our pro bono directory.

Brad Newberg: When it gets to the merits, parties have not paid enough attention to presenting evidence on damages. Even when awarding statutory damages, courts—and the CCB—pay attention to how and to what extent the injured party was harmed. If we have no evidence on that, such as evidence of past licensing fees, our awards are likely to reflect the lack of evidence. We’ve taken note of that, and in our conferences with the parties, where we remind them of things they should focus on, we point out that they should be assembling their evidence on that issue.

On the role law school clinics and pro bono organizations are playing in CCB proceedings.

Monica McCabe: Currently, we have four law school clinics listed in our clinic directory and eight organizations, such as Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts referral services, listed in our pro bono directory. Between the law school clinics and the pro bono organizations, the majority of the country is covered in terms of free or reduced-fee services for CCB parties. We have been told by a few other schools that they are working to establish clinics that would serve CCB parties. We have gradually been adding clinics and organizations since opening day and hope more law school clinics and pro bono organizations will sign up to offer their services to CCB claimants and respondents.

So far, the clinics are involved in three proceedings, but we expect more to follow. Anecdotally, we have heard that some clinics have provided advice to potential parties, who then either settled their dispute before filing or decided not to file.

On what larger entities, like corporations, LLCs, or associations, can do to ensure they know about claims brought against them.

Brad Newberg: Those companies can sign up for our Designated Service Agent Directory (DSAD). This is separate from the Office’s Service Provider’s Designated Agent Directory, for which a company might have provided a contact name to the Copyright Office. If a company is on our DSAD list, a claimant must serve the designated service agent for service to be effective. Claimants may serve the designated service agent by mail and often by email, which is much easier than traditional means of service. Also, to the extent companies are already discussing a claim with a claimant or potential claimant, the company can work with the claimant as to where to serve the claim or can waive service altogether. Waiver of service gives a respondent extra time to file their response to a claim.

On how the CCB’s default process differs from that in federal court.

David Carson: The CCB has numerous procedural safeguards set up to reduce defaults—more than exist in federal court. It encourages both sides to participate in the process, makes sure that clearly invalid claims don’t get through compliance review, and, even if there is a default after service of a claim, requires that claimants actually have to prove their case and justify the requested damages award. And if the respondent isn’t there to raise a defense, we will consider any defenses that appear from the face of the claim to be applicable.

Respondents who are in default are given several opportunities to re-engage. Even after a default determination, the respondent is given one last opportunity to oppose the default determination, including by submitting evidence, before the CCB issues a final determination.

On facilitating settlements.

Monica McCabe: The CCB has worked well to facilitate settlements between parties. The CCB is aware of at least thirty-three cases that have been dismissed because of a settlement, and anecdotally, the CCB knows that various other claims have been dismissed or withdrawn due to settlement. The CCB has held several settlement conferences in which cases were settled. We have a few more coming up on the schedule, so this number is certain to increase as more cases move to the next phase.

On whether the CCB is achieving the goal of providing a more affordable and streamlined system for resolving copyright disputes.

David Carson: Yes, we believe the CCB is achieving this goal. The costs of federal court litigation are overwhelming for most individuals and business entities. These increased costs are often the result of federal court discovery, expansive motion practice, and, when it gets that far, trial. For most cases, the CCB’s streamlining of these aspects of a copyright dispute saves most of the time and money usually spent by the parties in federal court. The extensive expertise of the Copyright Claims Officers and the copyright claims attorneys also enables the CCB to get to the heart of the copyright issues much more easily than most courts can.

 

Find more information about the CCB, including relevant resources and directories on the Board’s website, ccb.gov, and more information about the Copyright Office at copyright.gov.

 

¹A glossary of terms related to the Copyright Claims Board and its work is available in each chapter of the CCB Handbook.

²Please note, the statistics and numbers included in this blog post cover the period from June 16, 2022, to October 31, 2023.

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.

Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt’s successful music career began with the release of her first solo album in 1969. She started her career recording rock songs, but her love of various genres led her to record over twenty albums in rock, country, folk, jazz, and Mexican folk.

Ronstadt is from Tucson, Arizona, and grew up in a Mexican American family. In a 2022 PBS News Hour interview, Ronstadt spoke on the importance of representing and connecting with her Mexican heritage through her music. She said, “I wanted to possess it musically, because it was such— such emotional music, and it moved me so much to listen to it.”

In 1987, Ronstadt released her first Spanish-language album, Canciones de mi padre, which translates to Songs of My Father or My Father’s Songs. In it, she reflects on her Mexican roots. Throughout her career, Ronstadt became a multi-Grammy winner for albums of all genres, like Hasten Down the Wind (1976) and Canciones de mi padre (1987). Ronstadt also wrote songs, such as her 1976 hit “Lo siento mi vida” and her 1993 hit “Winter Light.” Her songs and albums have been registered with the Copyright Office and are searchable in the Copyright Public Record System.

Ronstadt released two more Spanish-language albums before her retirement in 2011. After retiring, Ronstadt was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2013 for her “one-of-a-kind voice and her decades of remarkable music.” Today, with millions of monthly Spotify listeners, Ronstadt remains an influential figure in the music industry.

José Andrés

Chef José Andrés was born and raised in Spain, where he learned how to cook from his parents and in the kitchens of Spanish restaurants.

At twenty, Andrés immigrated to the United States in hopes of following his American dream to cook and eventually open a restaurant. Since then, Andrés has built his career around sharing his heritage through restaurants in Washington, DC; New York; Miami; and Los Angeles. In a 2011 NPR interview, Andrés said, “Well, I always say that I don’t believe I’m a chef; I try to be a storyteller.”

Andrés has shared his story through authoring several cookbooks, including Made in Spain: Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen, which was registered with the Copyright Office in 2008 and includes not only his recipes but narratives providing cultural context.

The Office showcased authors like Andrés, who use the culinary aspects of culture to tell diverse stories across different media—including cookbooks, blogs, and film—to inspire and bring people together around food, in its 2021 Copyright Office Presents event “Food and Copyright.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda was born and raised in New York City, where he grew up in the Washington Heights neighborhood with his Puerto Rican family. As an actor, composer, lyricist, and writer, he has created works for the recording studio, stage, and screen.

Miranda is most recognized for his works In the Heights and Hamilton, and his writing often incorporates his Puerto Rican heritage. In the Heights, which started as a Broadway production, transformed into a film in 2021. The story focuses on the Latino community in the same neighborhood Miranda called home as a child. In a 2020 NPR interview, Miranda explained that In the Heights was a result of wanting to address the lack of Hispanic representation in musical theater. He said, “Every time I write a piece of theater, I’m trying to get us on the board and that continued with Hamilton . . . how can we write the parts that I didn’t see existing?”

Hamilton became popular because of Miranda’s decision to use hip hop in a history-based musical production with a diverse cast. After reading Ron Chernow’s 2004 Alexander Hamilton biography, Miranda worked with Chernow to create Hamilton: An American Musical (2015). The Copyright Office’s Find Yourself in Copyright exhibit features both Chernow’s biography and Miranda’s Broadway production.

Multiple components from the dramatic works In the Heights and Hamilton are registered with the Copyright Office, including sound recordings of the scores and the choreography. Miranda has received many awards for his writing, particularly for Hamilton, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2016 and Best Book of a Musical at the 2016 Tony Awards.

Rita Moreno

Rita Moreno is a powerhouse actress, dancer, singer, author, and the first Latina to EGOT (that is, win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award). She first moved to the United States from Puerto Rico at a young age and began her acting career dubbing for Spanish-language versions of American films. In 1962, Moreno won the Academy Award for her portrayal of Anita in West Side Story (1961). Now in her nineties, Moreno continues to act, including in the 2021 remake of West Side Story, where she played a wise widower guiding one of the lead characters, Tony, out of trouble.

In 2013, Moreno released Rita Moreno: A Memoir, a book reflecting on her life, which she registered with the Copyright Office. Mariem Pérez Riera directed Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, a 2021 documentary registered with the Office, which looks back on Moreno’s seventy-year career.

As we reflect on the contributions that Ronstadt, Andrés, Miranda, Moreno, and other Hispanic and Latin American creators have made to our copyright system, we cannot forget that the copyright system is always growing. There is always room for more works and new creators. We encourage photographers, writers, musicians, and other creators of all ages and from all backgrounds to check out our Engage Your Creativity webpage to learn what creators need to know about copyright to get started.

The Copyright Office is committed to increasing public understanding of the scope of the copyright system and how to take part in it. A main goal of our current strategic plan is Copyright for All, and the Office is committed to making the copyright system as clear and accessible to as many members of the public as possible, particularly individuals, small businesses, and historically underserved populations.

Looking for resources to learn more? Visit the official National Hispanic Heritage Month website; find the Copyright Office’s Spanish-language resources on our El derecho de autor en español webpage; and for general information about the Office and how registering your work with the Copyright Office can empower your creative success, visit us at copyright.gov.