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Copyright Act of 1976 GENERAL GUIDE TO THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1976 SEPTEMBER 1977 GENERAL GUIDE TO THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1976 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Historical Background - Chapter 1 Federal Preemption and Duration of Copyright - Chapter 2 Subject Matter of Copyright (including standards of copyrightability) - Chapter 3 Eligibility for Copyright Protection in the United States - Chapter 4 Ownership and Transfers of Ownership - Chapter 5 Termination of Transfers and Licenses - Chapter 6 Scope of the Exclusive Rights Accorded Copyright Owners - Chapter 7 Fair Use and Other Limitations and Exemptions on Exclusive Rights - sections 107, 108, 110, 112 - Chapter 8 The Compulsory Licenses and the Copyright Royalty Tribunal - Sections 111, 115, 116, 118 and Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 Notice of Copyright - Chapter 10 Deposit and Registration - Chapter 11 Manufacturing Requirements and Importation of Copies and Phonorecords - Chapter 12 Infringement of Copyright and Remedies - Chapter 13 Administrative Provisions - Chapter 14 Appendices: 1. Overview of the law in outline form 2. Chart Comparing the Act of 1909 with the Act of 1976 3. Educational and Contu Guidelines 4. Official Source Materials on Copyright Revision INTRODUCTION The Copyright Act of 1976, Public Law 94-553 (90 Stat. 2541), is a general revision of the copyright law, Title 17, United States Code; it becomes fully effective on January 1, 1978. The new law supersedes the Copyright Act of 1909, as amended, and is the first extensive revision of the 1909 law. Early in 1977 the Register of Copyrights established in the Copyright Office a Revision Coordinating Committee, chaired by the Register, to oversee the development and coordination of plans for implementation of the new law. The Committee recognized that an important part of this initial preparation was staff training and it asked Marybeth Peters, Senior Attorney-Adviser, to plan, organize, and conduct all internal training on the new law as well as to coordinate all training activities outside of the Copyright Office. As a result of her successful execution of the first part of this assignment, 260 staff members, in 15 sessions of one and one-half hours each, completed an intensive study of the new law; 125 other staff members participated a "mini-course". Ms. Peters, who has a teaching as well as a legal background, prepared all instructional materials and designed the format for both the short- and long-term courses. Because Ms. Peters' instruction was basic and her "lesson plans" comprehensive, the Copyright Office received repeated requests for wider dissemination of her instructional materials. The Revision Coordinating Committee is responding to this demand by publishing Ms. Peters' guide. This general guide to the Copyright Act of 1976 is not an official summary of the law. It does not attempt to deal with all of the issues raised by the revision legislation nor to provide answers to legal questions. It is, however, an extensive training tool, the text of which follows the language used by Ms. Peters, with only a change in tense to avoid an appearance of obsolescence on January 1, 1978. In developing the lectures and lesson plans, Ms. Peters relied heavily on the language of the law itself, the legislative reports, and the various statements of the Register of Copyrights to the Congress, i.e., the 1961 Report of the Register, 1965 Supplemental Report, and the 1975 Second Supplemental Report. Copies of these documents may be obtained by writing to the Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20559. The fee for the 1961 Report of the Register is $.45 while the fee for the 1965 Supplementary Report is $1.00; there is no charge for the rest of the material. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS DOCUMENT ARE THOSE OF MS. PETERS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE OFFICIAL VIEWS OF EITHER THE COPYRIGHT OFFICE OR ME LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. - 1:1 - CHAPTER I HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Copyright in the United States stems from a 1710 English statute known as the Statute of Anne. Following the American Revolution, most of the states enacted copyright laws generally patterned after this English act. The need for federal legislation, however, was soon recognized, and when the U.S. Constitution was drafted the principle of copyright was written into it. Article I, section 8 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." Thus, the primary purpose of copyright legislation is to foster the creation and dissemination of intellectual works for the public welfare; an important secondary purpose is to give creators the reward due them for their contribution to society. The first federal copyright statute was enacted in 1790 and covered maps, charts and books. This statute granted to authors and proprietors a term of 14 years with the privilege of renewal for a second term of 14 years. There were general revisions of the copyright law in 1831, 1870 and 1909. The law under which we have been operating for the past 68 years is the Act of March 4, 1909. This act is based on the printing press as the prime disseminator of information. Significant changes in technology have resulted in a wide range of new communications techniques that were unknown in 1909--for example, radio, television, communications satellites, cable television, computers, photocopying machines, videotape recorders, etc., and there are promises of even greater changes in the future. This growth in technology made revision of the Act of 1909 imperative. There were a number of unsuccessful attempts to revise the 1909 Act. The present revision effort began in 1955 when Congress appropriated the funds for a comprehensive program of research which produced a series of 35 studies analyzing what were then considered to be the major problems. In addition, the Register of Copyrights issued a report on the "General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law," in 1961. - 1:2 - Comments raised both by the studies and the Register's Report led to a series of meetings with a panel of consultants drawn from the copyright bar, representatives of the interested parties, and the Copyright Office. These meetings spanned three years and provided an opportunity to thrash out many of the problems. Statutory drafts with deliberate alternatives included were circulated for comment and Congressional consideration; then an extraordinary process of compromise and negotiation began. This process went on continuously for nearly fifteen years, down to the very day the bill was finally passed by both Houses of Congress. In 1967, after extensive hearings, the House of Representatives passed a revision bill--H.R. 2512. It was hoped that the Senate would take quick action on S. 597, the companion bill, but the cable television issue appeared to be irresolvable at that time. There then followed a long period of relative inaction. In 1974, however, the revision effort again showed signs of life, and on September 9, 1974, by a vote of 70-1, the Senate passed S. 1361. It was, however, too late for consideration of the bill by the House in that session of Congress. In 1976 Senator McClellan again introduced a copyright revision bill, S. 22. On February 19, 1976, by a vote of 97-0, the Senate passed it. On September 22, 1976, the House of Representatives passed a revision bill which differed in part from the Senate version, thus necessitating a Conference Committee. The Conference Report was adopted by both houses on September 30, 1976, and on October 19, 1976, President Ford signed the revision bill into law. The new copyright law, Public Law 94-553, with certain exceptions, takes effect on January 1, 1978. The Register of Copyrights, Barbara Ringer, speaking on the revision bill, made the following comment: "Except for the most prescriptive and technical of its provisions, practically everything in the bill is the product of at least one compromise, and many provisions have evolved from a long series of compromises reflecting constantly changing technology, commercial and financial interests, political and social conditions, judicial and administrative develop- ments and--not least by any means--individual personalities. The bill as a whole bespeaks concern for literally hundreds of contending and overlapping special interests from every conceivable segment of our pluralistic society. It was not enough to reach compromise on a particular point; all of the compromises had to be kept in equilibrium so that one agreement did not tip another over." - 1:3 - She went on to conclude that "It is a source of wonder that somehow all of this succeeded in the end." But succeed it did, and we now have a new law which makes fundamental and pervasive changes in the U.S. copyright system. Some of the changes are so profound that they may mark a shift in direction for the very philosophy of copyright itself. - 2:1 - CHAPTER TWO FEDERAL PREEMPTION AND DURATION OF COPYRIGHT [Chapter 3, Sections 301 to 305] SINGLE NATIONAL SYSTEM (Section 301) Federal preemption represents the most basic change in the U.S. copyright system since its inception. Instead of the present dual system of protection of works under the common law before they are published and under the federal statute after publication, the new law would, under section 301, establish a single system of statutory protection for all works fixed in a copy or phonorecord. The common law would continue to protect works (such as live choreography and improvisations) up to the time they are fixed in tangible form, but upon fixation they would be subject to exclusive federal protection under the statute, even though they are never published or registered. Some of the primary advantages of a single federal system are: 1.
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