About The United States Copyright Office

The United States Copyright Office is a part of the Library of Congress and the official U.S. government association responsible for maintaining all records of copyright registration in the United States. The United States Copyright Office
is most often used for searches of copyright title in an attempt to clear a chain of title for copyrighted works.

The US Copyright Office's mission is to promote creativity by managing and supporting an effectual national copyright system. However, over the years the purpose of the copyright system has grown to also include:

1. Administering the copyright law by examining all applications and deposits presented for registration of any original or renewal copyright claims to ensure that they are acceptability for registration under the requirements of the copyright law.
In addition, the Copyright Office records all documents related to copyright ownership.

2.The Copyright Office records the bibliographic descriptions as well as all facts relating to the copyright of all works, which are registered.

3. The Copyright Office also provides advice to Congress concerning copyright policy, assists Congress in the development of national and international copyright policy
as well as draft legislation, and prepares technical studies on copyright-related matters.

4. The Copyright Office provides information services to the public and reference services concerning copyrights and recorded documents. The public can subscribe on the Copyright Office website.

Congress passed a law in 1870, which centralized the copyright system in the Library of Congress, which required all authors to deposit in the Library of Congress two copies of every book, pamphlet, map, print, and piece of music registered in the
United States.

It is important to realize that the archives maintained by the Copyright Office are a vital record of America's cultural as well as historical heritage. The Copyright Card Catalog housed in the James Madison Memorial Building contains indexes to copyright registrations in the United States from 1870 through 1977, which had been estimated to be nearly 45 million individual cards. All records received 1977 are maintained
through an online database, which contains over 16 million entries, and that number continues to grow every day.

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