The Copyright Office

Copyright is a form of mental property protected by the laws of the United States. Copyright protection is the first works of authorship that are fixed in a real form, whether published or unpublished. The categories of works that can be protected by copyright laws include paintings, photographs, movies, and software.

The Copyright Office was created by Congress in 1897. The Register points to the Copyright Office as its own federal department. Pursuant to specific authorities set forth in the Copyright Act. Earlier in the Nation’s history. The Librarian of Congress administered copyright registration directly, and earlier still, from 1790-1896. U.S. district courts were responsible for doing that.

The Copyright Office is responsible for

a set of laws, the recordation of title and licenses. number of licensing provisions, and other aspects of the 1976 Copyright Act. By statute, the Register of Copyrights is the principal advisor to Congress on national and international copyright matters. Testifying upon request and providing ongoing leadership
As of early 2017, the Copyright Office has approximately 400 employees, the majority of whom examine and register hundreds of thousands of copyright claims in books, journals, music, movies, sound recordings, software, photographs, and other works of original authorship each year.

In fiscal year 2016, the Office processed over 468,000 claims for registration, issued over 414,000 registrations, received 91 percent of claims via our online application system, and collected $30 million in fees from registration.

The Office also acts as a conduit for the Library, providing certain works of authorship, known as copyright deposits, to the Library for its collections. In fiscal year 2016, the Office forwarded more than 636,000 works, worth a net value of $35.6 million, to the Library. During calendar year 2016, the Office collected over $244 million in royalty payments from compulsory and statutory licenses under sections 111, 119, and 1003.

In recent years, the Office has taken steps, through a set of public discussions, to propose ways to modernize the Copyright Office by examining relationships between the law, regulations, registration practices, technology, access to data, and the evolving copyright marketplace. Finally, the Copyright Office works regularly with the Department of Justice, the Department of State, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Department of Commerce, including the Patent and Trademark Office, and the Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement

Coordinator.
The history of American copyright law originated with the introduction of the printing press to England in the late fifteenth century. As the number of presses grew, authorities sought to control the publication of books by granting printers a near monopoly on publishing in England. The Licensing Act of 1662 confirmed that monopoly and established a register of licensed books to be administered by the Stationers' Company, a group of printers with the authority to censor publications. The 1662 act lapsed in 1695 leading to a relaxation of government censorship, and in 1710 Parliament enacted the Statute of Anne to address the concerns of English booksellers and printers.
The 1710 act established the principles of authors' ownership of copyright and a fixed term of protection of copyrighted works. The statute prevented a monopoly on the part of the booksellers and created a "public domain" for literature by limiting terms of copyright and by ensuring that once a work was purchased the copyright owner no longer had control over its use. While the statute did provide for an author's copyright, the benefit was minimal because in order to be paid for a work an author had to assign it to a bookseller or publisher.
It's important to understand that copyright law covers the "form of material expression," not the actual concepts, ideas, techniques, or facts in a particular work. This is the reason behind why a work must be fixed in a tangible form in order to receive copyright protection. A couple examples of works being fixed in a tangible form include stories written on paper and original paintings on canvas.