2.3: Online Access to Historical Records

Explore the feasibility of increasing the types and numbers of records accessible online to provide rapid availability of copyright information.

Other Information:

The Copyright Office is an office of record for information on copyright registrations, transfers of ownership, security interests, and other actions. Copyright Office records provide the most complete and accurate accounting of copyright information in the world, including some 31 million registrations since 1790, thousands of recorded documents, and forms for payment of licensing fees. Many records from 1978 to the present are searchable through the Copyright Office website. The records before 1978 are in paper form and are not available online, compelling the public to come personally to the Office, to pay a searching fee to the Copyright Office, or to hire professional searchers and law firms. Online availability of all or a larger portion of copyright records would provide users with immediate access to these records in a searchable form, providing information to facilitate the lawful use of creative works. One challenge to converting records to digital form is that record formats vary widely because data was recorded in different manners over different time periods. Means: The means to accomplish this objective include completing a study, already under way, to determine the feasibility of converting analog records to digital form and exploring whether this group of records can be combined with post-1977 records into a single searchable database.

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