Copyright Act of 1831
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] was the first major revision to the 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In 1859, the requirement of depositing copies of the work at the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian was repealed.[ 2]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] The constitutionality of this amendment was challenged but upheld by the Supreme Court in 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
Works related to Copyright Act of 1831 at Wikisource
Full text of the Copyright Act of 1831, as passed
Dormant Commerce Clause
Brown v. Maryland (1827)
Willson v. Black-Bird Creek Marsh Co. (1829)
Cooley v. Board of Wardens (1852)
Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois (1886)
Swift & Co. v. United States (1905)
George W. Bush & Sons Co. v. Malloy (1925)
Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc. (1935)
Edwards v. California (1941)
Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona (1945)
Dean Milk Co. v. City of Madison (1951)
Miller Bros. Co. v. Maryland (1954)
Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc. (1959)
National Bellas Hess v. Illinois (1967)
Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc. (1970)
Hughes v. Alexandria Scrap Corp. (1976)
Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady (1977)
Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Commission (1977)
City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey (1978)
Exxon Corp. v. Governor of Maryland (1978)
Reeves, Inc. v. Stake (1980)
Kassel v. Consolidated Freightways Corp. (1981)
Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas (1982)
White v. Mass. Council of Construction Employers (1983)
South-Central Timber Development, Inc. v. Wunnicke (1984)
Maine v. Taylor (1986)
Healy v. Beer Institute, Inc. (1989)
Quill Corp. v. North Dakota (1992)
Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt (1992)
Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality of Oregon (1994)
C&A Carbone, Inc. v. Town of Clarkstown (1994)
West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy (1994)
Granholm v. Heald (2005)
United Haulers Ass'n v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority (2007)
Department of Revenue of Kentucky v. Davis (2008)
Comptroller of the Treasury of Maryland v. Wynne (2015)
South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. (2018)
Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Assn. v. Thomas (2019)
National Pork Producers Council v. Ross (2023)
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. (1982)
San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee (1987)
Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc. (1992)
Qualitex Co. v. Jacobson Products Co. (1995)
College Savings Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board (1999)
Cooper Industries, Inc. v. Leatherman Tool Group, Inc. (2001)
TrafFix Devices, Inc. v. Marketing Displays, Inc. (2001)
Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. (2003)
Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc. (2003)
Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc. (2014)
POM Wonderful LLC v. Coca-Cola Co. (2014)
Matal v. Tam (2017)
Iancu v. Brunetti (2019)
Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil, Inc. (2020)
Copyright Act of 1976
Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co. (1977)
Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. (1984)
Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder (1985)
Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises (1985)
Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid (1989)
Stewart v. Abend (1990)
Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co. (1991)
Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. (1994)
Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. (1994)
Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int'l, Inc. (1996)
Quality King Distributors Inc., v. L'anza Research International Inc. (1998)
Feltner v. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (1998)
New York Times Co. v. Tasini (2001)
Eldred v. Ashcroft (2003)
MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. (2005)
Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick (2010)
Golan v. Holder (2012)
Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2013)
Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. (2014)
American Broadcasting Cos., Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. (2014)
Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc. (2017)
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com (2019)
Rimini Street Inc. v. Oracle USA Inc. (2019)
Allen v. Cooper (2020)
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. (2020)
Other copyright cases Other patent cases
Continental Paper Bag Co. v. Eastern Paper Bag Co. (1908)
Minerals Separation, Ltd. v. Hyde (1916)
United States v. General Electric Co. (1926)
United States v. Univis Lens Co. (1942)
Altvater v. Freeman (1943)
Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp. (1945)
Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kalo Inoculant Co. (1948)
Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Supermarket Equipment Corp. (1950)
Graver Tank & Manufacturing Co. v. Linde Air Products Co. (1950)
Aro Manufacturing Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co. (1961)
Compco Corp. v. Day-Brite Lighting, Inc. (1964)
Wilbur-Ellis Co. v. Kuther (1964)
Brulotte v. Thys Co. (1964)
Walker Process Equipment, Inc. v. Food Machinery & Chemical Corp. (1965)
Graham v. John Deere Co. (1966)
United States v. Adams (1966)
Brenner v. Manson (1966)
Lear, Inc. v. Adkins (1969)
Anderson's-Black Rock, Inc. v. Pavement Salvage Co. (1969)
Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc. (1971)
Gottschalk v. Benson (1972)
United States v. Glaxo Group Ltd. (1973)
Dann v. Johnston (1976)
Sakraida v. Ag Pro Inc. (1976)
Parker v. Flook (1978)
Diamond v. Chakrabarty (1980)
Diamond v. Diehr (1981)
Bonito Boats, Inc. v. Thunder Craft Boats, Inc. (1989)
Eli Lilly & Co. v. Medtronic, Inc. (1990)
Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc. (1996)
Warner-Jenkinson Co. v. Hilton Davis Chemical Co. (1997)
Pfaff v. Wells Electronics, Inc. (1998)
Dickinson v. Zurko (1999)
Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank (1999)
J. E. M. Ag Supply, Inc. v. Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. (2001)
Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co. (2002)
Merck KGaA v. Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd. (2005)
eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. (2006)
Illinois Tool Works Inc. v. Independent Ink, Inc. (2006)
LabCorp v. Metabolite, Inc. (2006)
MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc. (2007)
KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc. (2007)
Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp. (2007)
Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc. (2008)
Bilski v. Kappos (2010)
Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. SEB S.A. (2011)
Stanford University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. (2011)
Microsoft Corp. v. i4i Ltd. Partnership (2011)
Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. (2012)
Kappos v. Hyatt (2012)
Bowman v. Monsanto Co. (2013)
Gunn v. Minton (2013)
Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. (2013)
FTC v. Actavis, Inc. (2013)
Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International (2014)
Akamai Techs., Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc. (2014)
Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc. (2015)
Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC (2015)
Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. (2016)
TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC (2017)
Peter v. NantKwest, Inc. (2019)
Other trademark cases
Statutes
Pre-1976 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Precedents and rulings
Supreme Court
Wheaton v. Peters (1834)
Baker v. Selden (1879)
Trade-Mark Cases (1879)
Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony (1884)
Banks v. Manchester (1888)
Callaghan v. Myers (1888)
Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus (1908)
White-Smith Music Publishing Co. v. Apollo Co. (1908)
Williams & Wilkins Co. v. United States (1975)
Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. (1984)
Feist v. Rural (1991)
Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. (1994)
Quality King v. L'anza (1998)
Eldred v. Ashcroft (2003)
MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. (2005)
Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega, S. A. (2010)
Golan v. Holder (2012)
Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2013)
American Broadcasting Cos., Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. (2014)
Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands (2017)
Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com (2019)
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. (2020)
Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. (2021)
Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith (2023)
Appeals courts
Berlin v. E.C. Publications, Inc. (2d Cir. 1964)
Roth Greeting Cards v. United Card Co. (9th Cir. 1970)
Eltra Corp. v. Ringer (4th Cir. 1978)
Walt Disney Productions v. Air Pirates (9th Cir. 1978)
Midway Manufacturing Co. v. Artic International, Inc. (7th Cir. 1983)
Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp. (3d Cir. 1983)
Fisher v. Dees (9th Cir. 1986)
Whelan v. Jaslow (3d Cir. 1986)
Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software Ltd. (5th Cir. 1988)
Rogers v. Koons (2nd Cir. 1992)
Computer Associates International, Inc. v. Altai, Inc. (2d Cir. 1992)
American Geophysical Union v. Texaco, Inc. (2nd Cir. 1995)
Dr. Seuss Enters., L.P. v. Penguin Books USA, Inc. (9th Cir. 1997)
Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc. (2d Cir. 1998)
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. v. Connectix Corp. (9th Cir. 2000)
Nunez v. Caribbean Int'l News Corp. (1st Cir. 2000)
A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc. (9th Cir. 2001)
Veeck v. Southern Building Code Congress Int'l (5th Cir. 2002)
Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp. (9th Cir. 2002 / 2003)
In re Aimster Copyright Litigation (7th Cir. 2003)
NXIVM Corp. v. Ross Institute (2d Cir. 2004)
BMG Music v. Gonzalez (7th Cir. 2005)
Bill Graham Archives v. Dorling Kindersley, Ltd. (2nd Cir. 2006)
Blanch v. Koons (2nd Cir. 2006)
Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc. (9th Cir. 2006)
Cartoon Network, LP v. CSC Holdings, Inc. (2nd Cir. 2008)
Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc. (9th Cir. 2010)
Penguin Group (USA) Inc. v. American Buddha (2d Cir. 2011)
Monge v. Maya Magazines, Inc. (9th Cir. 2012)
Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. (2d Cir. 2012)
Seltzer v. Green Day, Inc (9th Cir. 2013)
Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc. (2d Cir. 2015)
Lenz v. Universal Music Corp. (9th Cir. 2015)
Naruto v. Slater (9th Cir. 2018)
Lower courts