Copyright Act of 1909

Copyright Act of 1909

Long title	An Act to Amend and Consolidate the Acts Representing Copyright
Enacted by	the 60th United States Congress
Effective	July 1, 1909
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 60–349
Statutes at Large	35 Stat. 1075
Codification
Acts repealed	Copyright Act of 1870
Legislative history
Introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 28192 by Frank Currier (R–NH) on February 15, 1909 Committee consideration by Committee on Patents Signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt on March 4, 1909
Major amendments
1912, 1914, 1941, repealed by the Copyright Act of 1976
United States Supreme Court cases
Herbert v. Shanley Co. F. W. Woolworth Co. v. Contemporary Arts, Inc. Mazer v. Stein Williams & Wilkins Co. v. United States

The Copyright Act of 1909 (Pub. L. 60–349, 35 Stat. 1075, enacted March 4, 1909) was a landmark statute in United States statutory copyright law. It went into effect on July 1, 1909.^[1] The 1909 Act was repealed and superseded by the Copyright Act of 1976, which went into effect on January 1, 1978; but some of 1909 Act's provisions continue to apply to copyrighted works created before 1978. It allowed for works to be copyrighted for a period of 28 years from the date of publication and extended the renewal term from 14 years (effective as of the Copyright Act of 1831) to 28 years, for a maximum of 56 years (in place of the former 42 years).