.svg) | |
| Long title | An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, Charts, And books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned |
|---|---|
| Enacted by | the 1st United States Congress |
| Citations | |
| Public law | Pub. L. 1–15 |
| Statutes at Large | 1 Stat. 124 |
| Legislative history | |
| |
| Major amendments | |
| 1802 Amendment,[1] Supplemental Copyright Act of 1819[2] | |
| United States Supreme Court cases | |
| Wheaton v. Peters | |
The Copyright Act of 1790 was the first federal copyright act to be instituted in the United States, though most of the states had passed various legislation securing copyrights in the years immediately following the Revolutionary War. The stated object of the act was the "encouragement of learning," and it achieved this by securing authors the "sole right and liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing and vending" the copies of their "maps, charts, and books" for a term of 14 years, with the right to renew for one additional 14-year term should the copyright holder still be alive.
- ^ 2 Stat. 171
- ^ Ferch, Pricilla. "Statutory Damages Under the Copyright Act of 1976". Loyola University Chicago Law Journal. 15 (3). Retrieved July 27, 2018.