>> John Saint Amour:
Thank you. Thank you.
Don't clap too much.
You don't know what's coming.
I'd also like to
welcome everyone
to the National Book
Festival
and the US Copyright
Office's presentation.
Find Yourself in Copyright:
Books.
My name is John Saint Amour:
and I serve as the
assistant head
of the Copyright Offices Public
Information Office.
Today's presentation follows
closely the Copyright Office's
new permanent exhibit,
Find Yourself in Copyright
found on the fourth floor
of the Library of Congress's
James Madison Building.
It contains over 50 artifacts
from the Copyright
Office's deposits
and libraries collections.
Today, I'm going to introduce
you to a few of those
artifacts. My goal is to
introduce the basics of
copyright, include some history
where copyright is today,
demonstrate why copyright is
or should be
important to you,
see how copyright protected
works can inspire us
to push creativity even
further,
explain the role
of the Copyright Office,
and ultimately show you
that you too are
part of copyright
and not just an idle observer,
but part of the full
dynamic of copyright.
So I hope you two at the end
will find yourself in copyright
here at the National
Book Festival.
We're going to be
interactive in times,
for example: raise your hand
if you've ever
read a book!
[John chuckles]
At home, you folks can
do that, too, at home.
Raise your hand if you've
ever watched a movie,
listened to music,
watched TV!
You are users of copyright
protected works.
Okay. Raise your hand if you've
ever in your entire life
written a poem.
Okay. A lot of people.
Painted a picture,
wrote a book,
wrote song lyrics.
You can keep them
up! Or sing a song,
drew pictures, 
taken photographs,
doodled on a notepad
during a boring
meeting at work. [laughter]
You are all creators
of original works,
and most of you raised
your hands twice.
So when we say copyright is for
all, we really mean it.
The idea of
copyright protection
predates the United States.
England had the Queen
Ann statute in 1610.
In 1783, Connecticut
became the first state
to pass a copyright law,
and most other
states followed suit.
Then in 1787, James Madison
submitted a provision
to the framers 
of the Constitution
to secure to literary
authors their copyrights
for a limited time.
It was a precursor to the
constitutional authority
given to Congress
to pass federal legislation.
Article I, 
Section 8 states:
Congress shall have the
power to
promote progress of
science and useful arts
by securing for limited times to
authors and inventors
the exclusive right
to their respective
writings and discoveries.
On May 31st, 1790,
George Washington,
President, signed into law
the Copyright Act of 1790.
It was limited in scope.
This law just protected maps,
charts and books for 14 years
with a renewable term of
another 14 years.
It directed authors and
publishers to register works
at the US District Court where
they resided.
So there was no copyright
office yet in 1790.
"The Philadelphia
Spelling Book"
was the first work registered
for federal copyright
protection.
John Barry, a school master
at the Free School of the
Protestant Episcopal Church
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
registered the book on June
9th, 1790
at the US District
Court of Philadelphia.
Now, as a former
educator myself,
it pleases me that it
was educational material
that was the first type
of work to enjoy
copyright protection
in the United States.
So back to hand raising.
Anyone ever--
Anyone here or at home
ever use a textbook in school?
Some people don't have that.
That's the change, right?
So the young people here--
that's part of the change, right?
Is that they don't have
textbooks anymore.
It's all online.
It's all digital.
While no complete copy
of this book here exists,
the Rare Book and Special
Collections Division
of the library does hold
 the printed title page
shown here and two
pages of the actual book
that John Barry
deposited for copyright.
Now back at the library,
the centerpiece of our exhibit
is one of the most recognizable
and perhaps largest
sculptural work registered
for copyright protection.
The Statue of Liberty is not
just a creative work,
although its creator,
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi,
registered his Statue
of American Independence
on August 31, 1876.
It's a promise.
It's a promise
of freedom and inclusion.
Copyright reflects that promise
by registering a broad range
of creative works, providing
people from all backgrounds
an incentive
to tell their stories,
an opportunity to inspire others
with their experience.
It requires little more than a
spark of creativity.
Emma Lazarus,
a Jewish writer,
is known as part
of the late 19th century
literary-- literati,
including Ralph Waldo Emerson
and James Russell Lowell.
She was a prolific writer in
multiple genres
and a political activist.
She wrote this sonnet after
some persuasion by friends
for an auction to raise money
for the pedestal
of the Statue of Liberty.
Written on the heels
of the Chinese Exclusion Act,
she made an important plea
to Americans, to the government,
and to everyone who wanted the
statue to stand
as a representation
of the promise of America
in  New York Harbor.
"Not like the brazen
giant of Greek frame,
with conquering limbs
astride from land to land,
here at our sea-washed,
sun gates shall stand,
a mighty woman with a torch
whose flame is the
imprisoned lightning
and her name,
Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon hand glows
worldwide welcome,
her mild eyes command
the air-bridged harbor
that twin cities frame.
'Keep ancient lands,
your stories pumped,'
cries she with silent lips.
'Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free.
The wretched refuse
of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless,
tempest tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside
the golden door.'"
All right.
Some more interaction.
How many of you
have seen the Statue of Liberty
other than this picture?
Yes.
Did she inspire you?
You can answer that later.
[John chuckles]
All right.
So what exactly is copyright?
It's a type of
intellectual property
protecting original
works of authorship
fixed in a tangible
medium of expression.
So let me break that down.
Copyright protection on a work
only requires a few
minimal standards.
A human must independently
create the work.
So no monkey photos
and no elephant trunk
paintings.
The work must possess a minimum
amount of creativity.
So it can't be a title or short
phrase or a common symbol.
The work must be fixed in a
tangible medium.
That means it's written
down or documented
or recorded in any
way, in some form.
Copyright initially vests
with the author
or creator of the work.
And there's a bundle of rights
that make up the copyright:
to reproduce the work,
to distribute the work,
the right to have the work
displayed or publicly performed,
the right to prepare
derivative works
and to perform publicly
digital audio transmissions
of audio recordings,
of sound recordings.
These are your
bundle of rights
that make up copyright.
The Copyright Office
is, among other functions,
is an office of record.
We hold 41
million card catalogs--
catalog cards, excuse me,
From registration
dating way back to 1870,
when copyright was centralized
at the Library of Congress.
Instead of those registrations
at the various district courts,
and a million more works
in our public catalog
covering from 1978 to today.
In addition to being
a writer, satirist, publisher,
and many other jobs
of Samuel Clemens,
who wrote books
under his pen name Mark Twain,
he was also an advocate
for copyright protection
and often spoke on
the importance of copyright
protecting his livelihood.
He especially pushed
for international
copyright relations.
Before passing the
International Copyright Act of
1891, Twain would regularly
travel to Canada
to secure copyright
protection for his works
in Canada and the U.K..
He also urged Congress
to get rid of copyrights
two term system
and push for one single term
based on the life of the author
plus 50 years.
It's something that took
the US Copyright Office
another 100 years to adopt.
As mentioned earlier,
copyright is for all.
There's no age
limit for copyright.
I see some young
people out here.
As such, all creators,
regardless of age,
are able to
register their works.
I don't know if
you've heard of this book.
Maybe not.
“A Face Without Freckles
Is Like A Night Without Stars,”
which is an old
Scottish or Irish axiom.
It's a short book of verse
celebrating freckles.
The author may be [inaudible]
now as the Duchess of Sussex,
but Meghan Markle
created this work
as part of an eighth
grade school project
and registered the work
while still a high
school student
and really unknown
in the world.
Her registration and the work
was discovered by a
staff member
after she became famous.
So some more hand raising here.
How many of you ever wrote a
story in school?
Yes.
I don't know if it was as
good as Meghan Markle's book--
[John chuckles]
The Copyright Office
safeguards millions of works
representing the country's
creativity through its holding
of copyright deposits.
That is, the works themselves,
the creators register with the
office and they send to us
as part of their copyright
registration.
As discussed earlier, copyright
protection protects works,
but it also limits protection
for limited times.
The first law in 1790 held two
terms of 14 years apiece
and authors had to follow
very strict formalities
to maintain their rights.
Today, the law protects works
the moment the work is created
and fixed in a tangible medium
of expression, as I discussed,
written down, somehow
documented electronically,
and the length of copyright
is for the entirety
of the life of the creator,
plus an additional 70 years,
so 20 more than
Mark Twain advocated for.
When the term is over,
the work becomes part
of the public domain
and anyone can freely use it
without restriction.
Works in the public domain
often inspire new works,
adaptations, and more,
further enriching the
country's cultural landscape.
We all know that
Frank Baum wrote
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,"
and that was in 1900.
It spawned in its time,
while still under
copyright, derivative works
where permission had to
be granted for its use.
There was a 1902 Broadway
musical and the well known
and now shown on
Thanksgiving weekend,
1939 film starring Judy Garland.
By the time it entered
the public domain in 1956,
it had sold more
than 3 million copies.
In 1995, Gregory Maguire
wrote the novel "Wicked,"
a retelling of the story
from the perspective
of the witches. In
turn, "Wicked" inspired music
theater composer and lyricist,
Stephen Schwartz, with
permission from McGuire,
to create the Broadway
musical "Wicked,"
which has been running non-stop
in New York City since 2003,
except for our temporary
COVID shutdown.
And this graphic, we see that
not only can public domain works
inspire us, but these new works
also raise interest
in the original works, to go
back to the primary source
and enjoy the books
all over again,
and maybe inspire you to
create a song,
write a new story, create a new
play, like the off-Broadway
play, "The Woodsman," which is
a sort of prequel that tells
the story-- the back story
of the "Tin Man."
That play was a musical,
really.
It was inspired from just one
paragraph in the book
that tells us that The Tin Man
was once a real man
named Nick Chopper.
In theory, the inspiration
that is from Baum's books
on "The Land of Oz"
will never end,
as new and inventive stories
continue
to develop and in turn keep
the original book relevant.
From 1790 to today,
copyright has
continued to evolve
from books, maps, and charts
to all of these works
here on the screen.
Literary works, musical works,
dramatic works, pantomimes
and choreographic works, 
pictorial, graphic,
sculptural works,
motion pictures,
sound recordings,
architectural works.
The law George Washington
signed was two pages long,
the front and back
of a large sheet
of parchment paper.
Today, the copyright law is
what, some 450 pages in length,
but it's not 450 pages
of restrictions.
In fact, much of the law
touched upon the users rights,
and there's other
technical provisions
that bring new
technologies to us
or allow us to have access
to the full array of works.
The Pulitzer Prize
and Tony winning musical
"Hamilton" by Lin-Manuel Miranda
is a derivative
work that parallels
with the comprehensive
biography
"Alexander Hamilton"
by Ron Chernow.
When Miranda read the
biography,
he imagined Hamilton's
life as a musical,
with a twist! And only someone
like Lin-Manuel Miranda
could read a biography
by Ron Chernow and
envision it as a musical.
[John  chuckles]
And in that musical,
it was a modern musical
with modern styles
and people of color
as the historical figures.
The goal?
To make history relatable.
And right within the musical
about one of our
country's founding fathers,
we can see the
evolution of copyright.
In Hamilton Times copyright
was limited to only a few types
of works, books, maps, charts,
and they added prints
in his time.
And we see the
many types of works
that are protected today.
The script, the music
and lyrics of the musical,
the choreography,
poster prints of the musical,
advertising, original cast
sound recordings, and on and
on. Each of these new works
have put together a musical
about his life and
brings that story
to all of us.
Today's Copyright Office
is an important part
of the copyright system,
responsible for
administering a complex
and dynamic set of laws.
Advising Congress, the courts
and the executive branch and
participating in US delegations
to international meetings.
The office also provides a
variety of services to creators
and users of copyright related
works and helps copyright
owners keep their records up
to date, preserving a public
record of our country's
creativity.
My office, the Public
Information Office,
we're tasked with providing
authoritative information
on copyright law,
regulation, office policies,
and practice to the public.
Sounds complicated.
That's why we're here.
That's why we're on the phones.
We take your
inquiries by phone.
We take your
inquiries by email.
People even come on site
at the library Madison
Building to talk with us.
We even provide a service
to walk creators
through their copyright
registration applications.
Most recently, the Office of
Records expanded the online
recordation pilot for
Section 205 documents,
these are assignment
documents, to everyone,
making our record system
even more accessible to all.
Additionally, the law and
regulations are dynamic,
meaning they change
with the times,
and at each step, we asked
for public involvement.
We often hold roundtables
and discussions on the
law and regulations.
Public comment periods are
required as part of the process
to promulgate regulations.
And you can get involved.
You can sign up for our news
net on our website
and receive updates,
usually one or two a month
regarding any changes
to the law, to the regulations,
to our office practices
and policies.
And we encourage
feedback through our website--
[inaudible]
we get them--
we get our feedback,
and we encourage comments
to our office not only
about law and regulations,
but just how well we're doing
with our public outreach
and our public services.
We want to hear from you.
The US Copyright
Office is a world leader
in the administration
of the Copyright Act,
and we're here for everyone
who raised a hand today,
and we're here
for anyone who didn't,
when you finally need us.
Thank you for being here today.
We invite you to the James
Madison Building
at 101 Independence Avenue by
appointment for a tour
of our full permanent exhibit:
Find Yourself in Copyright.
We have staff docents ready to
take you on another journey
of our many artifacts
full of interesting
and surprising stories.
Following this presentation,
I'll be at the Copyright Office
booth downstairs at the exhibit
where you can
come and ask me
any questions on copyright.
We may have a little time
for some Q&A here.
We'll see. You--
our website is here, sorry.
We have our web address here
where you can find our
phone number to call us.
You can also fill out
a handy dandy online form
to send us your questions.
Our office location
hours are also posted.
Thank you very much.
We have one more little
interactive thing for you.
This is to see if you are
paying any attention.
So this actually was created--
this is what I like
to call the great
copyright quiz.
It was developed by our stage
emcee, George Cerone.
It does two things
for me today.
One, it lets me know
if I did a good job
'cause if you get
the answers right,
I did a good job,
and it lets George know,
who-- we are colleagues
but he's also a supervisor
of mine.
[John chuckles]
So are we ready for some
trivia?
No?
[John laughs]
Alright.
For work to be protected under
copyright, it must:
A, Be original.
B, Include a copyright notice.
C, Be of professional quality,
Or D have a value of $35.
Anyone remember
the answer to that?
>> Audience Members:
A.
>> John Saint Amour:
A!
Yes, that's good.
A, it has to be original.
A work is protected
under copyright:
A, When the author mails
a copy of work to herself.
B, as soon as the work is
created and
fixed in any format.
C, as soon as the
work is submitted
to the Copyright Office, or
D once the work is published
or displayed publicly.
>> Audience Members:
B.
>> John Saint Amour:
B! That's right.
You got it.
Answer is B, as soon
as the work is fixed
and created in any format.
See they were listening,
George.
I'm very happy,
and this is exciting.
The Copyright Office
was established in:
A, 1790.
B, 1870.
C, 1897.
Or D, 1909.
>> Audience Member:
A.
>> John Saint Amour:
No, that's when the first
Copyright Act was written.
It's actually kind
of a trick question.
Copyright was centralized in
1870 at the Library of
Congress. But the one part
I didn't include,
and you would just
kind of have to know this,
so this was to see
how much information
you came in with, is
that the Copyright Office
became a separate department
within the library.
So it was within the library.
1870, in 1897.
But had you been-- said to
1870, you'd have been correct.
All right. So I'll have to work
on that slide next time.
[Audience laughing]
If a work is in the public
domain it means:
A, it exists on the Internet.
B, access to the
work is free of cost.
C, it's available
at a public library,
or D, the work can be
freely copied and used.
>> Audience Members:
D.
>> John Saint Amour:
Yes.
That is correct.
All those other
things are myths.
We hear about
things all the time.
It's on the Internet.
Never confuse the public domain
with the domain of the public.
That's two different things.
What is the largest thing we
think the Copyright Office
has ever registered?
Was it the Brooklyn Bridge?
The St. Louis Arch.
The Statue of Liberty
or the Disney Castle?
>> Audience Members:
C.
>> John Saint Amour
C! Yeah--
We have a great thing in our--
We have a great
display at our exhibit
all about the Statue of Liberty
and its copyright
registrations.
So there she is right there.
All right.
And that is the--
I'm going to go back so that we
can end with my ending.
I should have put it
at the end, too.
There we go.
So how are we on time?
>> Audience Member:
Seven minutes.
>> John Saint Amour:
Seven minutes!
That's great.
So if we have any
questions we have--
you can come here,
also following, I'll
go downstairs
to the booth in the
exhibit hall
if you have more
in-depth questions.
I also have some
colleagues down there
who can help you as well.
So I'm glad to take questions.
>> Audience Member:
Hi my name is Ben.
>> John Saint Amour: 
Hi, Ben.
>> Audience Member Ben:
So to follow your talk,
you told us that
copyright is to promote
the progress of science
and useful arts, from which we
infer that if something does
not promote the progress of
science and useful arts, that
copyright is unconstitutional,
right? So, you know, we can
go through--
Samuel Clemens actually did not
endorse very long copyright.
He had kind of a sarcastic bit
about, "yeah, you know, my kids
are set based on my writing,
but what about my
grandchildren?
How can they not have to work?
MGM is very aggressive in
enforcing copyright in its
movie, so if you want to base
something on the book, you
better have some lawyers on
hand to deal with MGM when they
come at you.
There's also in the present
day, I know you know about
"Blurred Lines," there are a
lot of musicians who are very
concerned about this.
You know what if somebody put
in a fixed medium a song,
they may not have
even published it,
but one day they
come at us and say,
"Well, your song
sounds like my song."
So does the Copyright Office,
what does the Copyright Office
see as too much copyright?
>> John Saint Amour:
What does copyright
see as too much copyright?
In the end that's the question.
Yes?
>> Audience Member Ben:
Yes. I gave you some
examples.
>> John Saint Amour:
So the Copyright Office's role
is to administer
the Copyright Law.
So Congress writes
the Copyright Law,
and Congress enacts
the Copyright Law.
>> Audience Member Ben:
And Library of Congress advises
Congress on this, right?
>> John Saint Amour:
Yes.
>> Ben: Are there points
where they advise
this is too much copyright?
You know, Congress
should not enact these things.
>> John Saint Amour:
So
unfortunately for me,
as a staff member and
as a federal employee,
I'm not by regulation able
to provide a legal
opinion of my own.
I can't opine on that.
>> Audience Member Ben:
Alright. Well, thank you.
>> John Saint Amour:
Thank you.
>> Audience Member:
I have-- [crosstalk]
>> Audience Member:
Sorry about that. Hi!
>> John Saint Amour:
I was like, where's that voice?
There we go. Hello!
>> Audience Member: Hi.
So I'm a museum curator,
so I come up against the
question a lot of fair use.
>> John Saint Amour:
Okay.
>> Audience Member:
What--
How does the Copyright Office--
where do they draw the
line on fair use? I guess
is my question.
>> John Saint Amour:
So just for clarity,
the Copyright Office
doesn't draw the line.
So fair use is a doctrine
that in the 1976 Act,
which went into 1978,
was codified in there it--
and so the law states that
there are certain things
that can be of fair use.
And there's a four point
analysis
and it's within the law.
I don't have that
right in front of me.
But there's essentially--courts
would do a fair use analysis.
To aid the public--
so if you're in the public and
you're saying I need to know if
the use--what I'm doing is fair
or not, the Copyright office,
again, because we can't provide
legal opinion, we can't provide
you that for your specific
situation.
But we do have a fair use
index, which is a resource on
our website that provides cases
that have gone to the courts.
It's not comprehensive, but
it's many relevant cases that
have gone to the courts.
You can pick and choose
by like the topic,
like what the type of work is.
You can pick by the court,
whether it's a district court
or the Supreme Court,
and you can look to see,
you know--
look at the facts of the case.
There's a summary
kind of brief on there
where you can click on to
it and it basically tells you
this is what the main
points were in the case.
And this was the conclusion
whether the courts found
that use to be fair or not.
And so what really
establishes fair use is,
in large part, is case law.
>> Audience Member:
Okay. Thank you.
>> John Saint Amour:
Well, we're good.
I think we're right there,
yeah?
Okay.
Well, thank you all
again for attending.
I just want you to know that at
your seat, there's a lanyard,
and you're free to take the
lanyard home with you and
enjoy. I appreciate you
suffering to my
presentation today.
[John chuckles]
And if I did a good job,
please let my supervisor know.
And if you are walking around
the book festival in
the next half hour,
up to an hour and
you have questions--
actually, we have
staff there all day,
but down at the library's booth
in the exhibit hall,
I'll be there for about,
at least 30 minutes.
But I also have staff there up
until the end who can answer
your copyright questions.
So if you're walk around and go,
"Oh, I just thought
of something."
We have people who can help you.
So visit us.
Visit us on the web.
Send us emails.
Call us.
However you wish.
So thank you everybody.
I appreciate it.
[audience applauds]