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	Brief Timeline of Copyright History
	The laws governing copyright have been a work in progress for many centuries, and continue to be so because of the changing world and the technology around us. Thus starts our saga...
	1476 In England,William Caxton created the first printing company. This necessitated the establishment of regulations, therefore, royal grants and patents were given out for exclusive rights to print certain books. The main purpose of the grants were to raise government revenue and gain control over publication contents. ( Rothenberg)
	1557 Queen Mary chartered the Stationers' Company, which was a trade association of printers and booksellers. (Rothenberg) They kept records of what each member purchased from authors or other members. They were regulated by the Court of Star Chamber and achieved a monopoly on the printing of books. ("Copyright")
	1694 Many regulations of the press failed along with the Stationers' Company, therefore many years passed with uncontrolled literary piracy. ("Copyright")
	1710 The Statute of Anne was passed marking the beginning of modern English copyright law. It gave authors exclusive rights to print their works for fourteen years with a renewal allowed for another fourteen years. Titles needed to be registered before publication at the Stationer's Hall and nine copies deposited with the official libraries. (Clinton)
	1790 In the United States, after the Revolutiony War, under the provisions of the Constitution, Congress was given the power to protect literary property and inventions. In May of 1790, Congress passed the Copyright Act, which applied to any book, map or chart. The title of the work needed to be recorded by a clerk of a U.S. District Court prior to its publication with a notice published in the newspaper where the author resided. Copyright duration was fourteen years with the option to renew for the same number of years. (Clinton) Within two weeks of the law being enacted, works started to be registered. (U.S. Copyright Office) Unfortunately, foreign authors were not eligible for protection and therefore their works were freely pirated by American publishers, thus ignoring American authors. (Rothenberg)
	1802 Prints, engravings, and cuts were added to the works protected under the copyright law. For the first time the word "copyright" was used within the law. (Clinton)
	1831 Musical compositions received copyright protection, but not the performance of those compositions were still unprotected.. (Clinton)
	1856 Dramatic compositions received copyright protection, along with the right of public performances. (Clinton)
	1865 Photographs received copyright protection. (Clinton)
	1870 Paintings, drawings, sculpture, models, and designs for works connected with the fine arts were given protection. (Clinton) Centralization for the process of registration and deposit with the Library of Congress, under the direction of Ainsworth Rand Spofford, was also enacted that year. (U.S. Copyright Office)
	1886 The Bern Union was created in Europe. (Clinton) [see International Copyright Issues]
	1891 The Chace Act was enacted, which allowed foreign authors to file for copyright. Not many took advantage of this because of the filing procedure. (Rothenberg)
	1897 Works of fine art, the right of translation, and the right to performance in public of musical compositions were given protection, which now protected them from unauthorized public performances. (Rothenberg)
	1909 The Copyright Act extended control of the author (or his assignees, or heirs) the right to make any other version of a literary work, and the right to convert a drama into a non-dramatic work. Proprietors of musical works were also protected against unauthorized recordings. Renewal period was extended another fourteen years, thus increasing the total term of protection to fifty-six years. (Rothenberg)
	1912 Motion pictures, which were previously registered as photographs were added to the classes of protected works. (U.S. Copyright Office)
	1947 A new protective category was added that included lectures, sermons, and addresses prepared for oral delivery. Models or designs for works of art, reproductions of works of art, and drawings of plastic works in the scientific or technical character were also added. The Copyright Llaw was codified into positive law as Title 17 of the U.S. Code. (Rothenberg)
	1952 Proprietors of non-dramatic literary works were given control over public renditions for profit, and the making of transcriptions or recordings. (Rothenberg)
	1971 Congress established a limited copyright on sound recordings that were first recorded and issued beginning February 15,1972. (Rothenberg)
	1976 On October 19, the copyright law was radically altered and signed by President Ford. The law increased the lenght of protection to "the author's life plus fifty years" for new works and existing unpublished works that had not yet been copyrighted. For anonymous works, pseudonymous works, and works made for hire, the term became: seventy-five years from the first publication or 100 years from the date of creation, whichever was shorter. Cable television, juke boxes and public broadcasting were subject to new forms of compulsory licensing. Libraries were prohibited photocopying except under specified conditions. A new mechanism was instituted for the termination of transfers of copyrights. The manufacturing clause, the previous mechanism which dealt with books and periodicals by U.S. citizens and residents or in the English language, was phased out. The system of copyright notices, which had been punishing American creators instead of protecting and nurturing them, was liberalized. (Rothenberg) The law required the notice of copyright to be affixed to copies of published works in a location that gaves reasonable notice to the claim to copyright. The symbol ©, the word "copyright" or the abbreviation "copr." with the year of the first publication and the name of the owner of the copyright were required to appear on the work. The symbol "P" with a circle around it was required for sound recordings or phonorecords with the same standards as previously stated. ("Copyright")
	1980 An amendment was added to include computer programs. (U.S. Copyright Office)
	1982 The rental of audio recordings was added, which stated that persons who infringed copyright willfully and for purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain would be punished. (Clinton)
	1984 The Semiconductor Chip Protection Act was passed that protected mask work fixed in a semiconductor chip product. (U.S. Copyright Office)
	1988 An amendment was added that brought the U.S. Copyright Law into compliance with the Bern Convention. This took many foreign works out of the public domain arena. [See International Copyright Issues] The following year the U.S. was admitted into the Bern Convention. (Rothenberg)
	1990 The Visual Artists Rights Act, the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act, and the Computer Software Rental Amendment were added. These granted moral rights for the first time to works of visual art, architectural works which now included their presentation of buildings and models, and restricted commercial rental of computer software. (U.S. Copyright Office)
	1992 Modifications were added which automatically renewed works created before January 1, 1978. This prevented them from falling into the public domain because of non-renewal. Also, the Audio Home Recording Act was added. It imposed a surcharge on digital audio tape recorders and recording media to prevent serial copies from being made. (Clinton)
	1996 The Digital Music Transmission Amendment extended the definition of copyrighted material to include digital music transmissions, and gave them the same protection of "life plus seventy years" as phonorecords. (Clinton)
	1998 On October 27th the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act was signed into law, that extended copyright for the life of the creator plus seventy years. [See Recent and Pending Legislation] On October 28th President Clinton signed into law the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This act is divided into five titles. Title I, is the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act, which implements the WIPO treaties. [see International Copyright Issues] Title II, is the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, creates limitations on the liability of online service providers for copyright infringement when engaging in certain activities. Title III, the Computer Maintenance Competition Assurance Act, creates an exemption for making a copy of a computer program by activating a computer for the purposes of maintenance or repair. Title IV contains miscellaneous provisions that relate to the functions of the Copyright Office. These functions include distance education, exceptions for libraries and for making ephemeral recordings, "webcasting" of sound recordings, and collective bargaining agreement obligations in the case of transfers of rights in motion pictures. Title V, is the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act, creates a new form of protection for the design of vessel hulls. (U.S. Copyright Office)
	2000 An example of a recent dispute of copyright law is the charges that were brought against Napster, an online company which allowed users to download, for free, music that in other formats was copyrighted. On July 26, the district court issued an opinion that Napster's users were engaging in extensive copyright infringement and that Napster is contributory and vicariously liable for their actions. The court stated that Section 1008 of the Audio Home Recording Act did not excuse Napster from liability. [See Recent and Pending Legislation] The Copyright Office on December 11, 2000 amended its definition of public performance of sound recordings by means of digital audio transmissions, clarifying that transmissions of a broadcast signal over a digital communications network, such as the Internet, are not exempt from copyright infringement liability. (U.S. Copyright Office)
	Throughout time the Copyright laws have continually changed and will continue to change as different circumstances arises. The world around us is not static, nor will technology remain static, therefore when technology progresses, the laws also need to change to keep abreast of our changing world. Did the writers of the original copyright law foresee such a future? What will change next? Since no one owns a crystal ball, only time will tell.
	Relevant Sites United States Copyright Office Copyright Law 1999: A Brief Review Copyright Law Timeline: A History of Copyright in the U.S
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