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May 31

Copyright Act of 1790 Enacted (1790)


On May 31, 1790, the Copyright Act of 1790 was signed into law by President George Washington. This was the first federal copyright statute in the United States.

The Copyright Act of 1790 was passed during the Second Session of Congress in January 1790. The bill was then signed into law on May 31, 1790 and distributed throughout the country via newspaper shortly thereafter.

The Act was modeled off of the Statute of Anne, which was the first copyright law passed in Great Britain. The Act required registration in order for a work to receive copyright protection, and copies of the work were to be deposited in officially designated repositories such as the Library of Congress. It provided for an initial term of 14 years, renewable once by living authors for an additional 14 years, and covered books, maps, and charts. Paintings, drawings, and music were not originally included under the Act, but were added at a later date.

The Copyright Act of 1790 applied only to citizens of the United States, and to material printed in the United States. Non-citizens and material printed outside the United States were not granted any copyright protection until the International Copyright Act of 1891.