U.S. federal copyright legislation
Copyright Act of 1831 Long title An Act to Amend the Several Acts Respecting Copyrights Effective February 3, 1831 Statutes at Large 4 Stat. 436
The Copyright Act of 1831 [ 1] U.S. Copyright Law . The bill is largely the result of lobbying efforts by American lexicographer Noah Webster .
The key changes in the Act included:
Extension of the original copyright term from 14 years to 28 years, with an option to renew the copyright for another 14 years
Addition of musical compositions to the list of statutorily protected works (though this protection only extended to reproductions of compositions in printed form; the public performance right was not recognized until later)
Extension of the statute of limitations on copyright actions from one year to two
Changes in copyright formality requirements Noah Webster, most widely known for his dictionary , lobbied to amend the Copyright Act
Amendments
The law was amended a number of times for a wide variety of purposes.[ 2]
In 1834, Congress allowed a copyright to be transferred to someone else, a record of which had to be made within 60 days.[ 2]
In 1846, Congress established the requirement of depositing copies of the work at the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian , in addition to the copies already required to be deposited with the Secretary of State .[ 2]
In 1855, Congress provided free postage for sending works to be deposited.[ 2]
In 1856, copyright was expanded to the right to restrict public performance of a work.[ 2]
In 1859, the requirement of depositing copies of the work at the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian was repealed.[ 2]
In 1861, copyright cases were allowed to be heard by the United States Supreme Court , regardless of the amount of money at stake.[ 2]
In 1865, Congress made photographs copyrightable.[ 2] Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony [ 3]
Also in 1865, the practice of depositing a copy with the Library of Congress was reestablished, requiring deposit within one month.[ 2]
In 1867, the Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Spofford lobbied for a penalty of $25 for books that failed to be deposited within one month.[ 2]
See also
References
Further reading
External links
Full text of the Copyright Act of 1831, as passed
Dormant Commerce Clause
Brown v. Maryland Willson v. Black-Bird Creek Marsh Co. Cooley v. Board of Wardens Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois Swift & Co. v. United States George W. Bush & Sons Co. v. Malloy Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc. Edwards v. California Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona Dean Milk Co. v. City of Madison Miller Bros. Co. v. Maryland Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc. National Bellas Hess v. Illinois Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc. Hughes v. Alexandria Scrap Corp. Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Commission City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey Exxon Corp. v. Governor of Maryland Reeves, Inc. v. Stake Kassel v. Consolidated Freightways Corp. Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas White v. Mass. Council of Construction Employers South-Central Timber Development, Inc. v. Wunnicke Maine v. Taylor Healy v. Beer Institute, Inc. Quill Corp. v. North Dakota Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality of Oregon C&A Carbone, Inc. v. Town of Clarkstown West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy Granholm v. Heald United Haulers Ass'n v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority Department of Revenue of Kentucky v. Davis Comptroller of the Treasury of Maryland v. Wynne South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Assn. v. Thomas National Pork Producers Council v. Ross Others
Copyright Act of 1790 Patent Act of 1793 Patent infringement case lawPatentability case lawCopyright Act of 1831 Copyright Act of 1870 Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 International Copyright Act of 1891 Copyright Act of 1909 Patent misuse case lawClayton Antitrust Act of 1914 Lanham Act
Inwood Laboratories, Inc. v. Ives Laboratories, Inc. San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc. Qualitex Co. v. Jacobson Products Co. College Savings Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board Cooper Industries, Inc. v. Leatherman Tool Group, Inc. TrafFix Devices, Inc. v. Marketing Displays, Inc. Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc. Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc. POM Wonderful LLC v. Coca-Cola Co. Matal v. Tam Iancu v. Brunetti Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil, Inc. Copyright Act of 1976
Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co. Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid Stewart v. Abend Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co. Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int'l, Inc. Quality King Distributors Inc., v. L'anza Research International Inc. Feltner v. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. New York Times Co. v. Tasini Eldred v. Ashcroft MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick Golan v. Holder Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. American Broadcasting Cos., Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc. Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com Rimini Street Inc. v. Oracle USA Inc. Allen v. Cooper Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. Other copyright cases Other patent cases
Continental Paper Bag Co. v. Eastern Paper Bag Co. Minerals Separation, Ltd. v. Hyde United States v. General Electric Co. United States v. Univis Lens Co. Altvater v. Freeman Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp. Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kalo Inoculant Co. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Supermarket Equipment Corp. Graver Tank & Manufacturing Co. v. Linde Air Products Co. Aro Manufacturing Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co. Compco Corp. v. Day-Brite Lighting, Inc. Wilbur-Ellis Co. v. Kuther Brulotte v. Thys Co. Walker Process Equipment, Inc. v. Food Machinery & Chemical Corp. Graham v. John Deere Co. United States v. Adams Brenner v. Manson Lear, Inc. v. Adkins Anderson's-Black Rock, Inc. v. Pavement Salvage Co. Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc. Gottschalk v. Benson United States v. Glaxo Group Ltd. Dann v. Johnston Sakraida v. Ag Pro Inc. Parker v. Flook Diamond v. Chakrabarty Diamond v. Diehr Bonito Boats, Inc. v. Thunder Craft Boats, Inc. Eli Lilly & Co. v. Medtronic, Inc. Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc. Warner-Jenkinson Co. v. Hilton Davis Chemical Co. Pfaff v. Wells Electronics, Inc. Dickinson v. Zurko Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank J. E. M. Ag Supply, Inc. v. Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co. Merck KGaA v. Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd. eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. Illinois Tool Works Inc. v. Independent Ink, Inc. LabCorp v. Metabolite, Inc. MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc. Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp. Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc. Bilski v. Kappos Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. SEB S.A. Stanford University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. Microsoft Corp. v. i4i Ltd. Partnership Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. Kappos v. Hyatt Bowman v. Monsanto Co. Gunn v. Minton Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. FTC v. Actavis, Inc. Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International Akamai Techs., Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc. Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC Peter v. NantKwest, Inc. Other trademark cases
Statutes
Pre-1976 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Precedents
Supreme Court
Wheaton v. Peters Baker v. Selden Trade-Mark Cases Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony Banks v. Manchester Callaghan v. Myers Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus White-Smith Music Publishing Co. v. Apollo Co. Williams & Wilkins Co. v. United States Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. Feist v. Rural Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. Quality King v. L'anza Eldred v. Ashcroft MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega, S. A. Golan v. Holder Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. American Broadcasting Cos., Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith Appeals courts
Berlin v. E.C. Publications, Inc. Roth Greeting Cards v. United Card Co. Eltra Corp. v. Ringer Walt Disney Productions v. Air Pirates Midway Manufacturing Co. v. Artic International, Inc. Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp. Fisher v. Dees Whelan v. Jaslow Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software Ltd. Rogers v. Koons Computer Associates International, Inc. v. Altai, Inc. American Geophysical Union v. Texaco, Inc. Dr. Seuss Enters., L.P. v. Penguin Books USA, Inc. Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc. Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. v. Connectix Corp. Nunez v. Caribbean Int'l News Corp. A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc. Veeck v. Southern Building Code Congress Int'l Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp. In re Aimster Copyright Litigation NXIVM Corp. v. Ross Institute BMG Music v. Gonzalez Bill Graham Archives v. Dorling Kindersley, Ltd. Blanch v. Koons Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc. Cartoon Network, LP v. CSC Holdings, Inc. Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc. Penguin Group (USA) Inc. v. American Buddha Monge v. Maya Magazines, Inc. Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. Seltzer v. Green Day, Inc Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc. Lenz v. Universal Music Corp. Naruto v. Slater Lower courts
Works related to Copyright Act of 1831 at Wikisource
