May 31, 1790
The first Copyright Act was signed by President George Washington. The act protected authorship rights over books, maps and other written material. Rights of copy were only granted to US citizens, a mandate that was kept in place for more than a century.
More on the famous act:
http://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/firsts/copyright/index.html
Regards,
Mike
Copyright Officer, QUT
Brisbane, Australia
<m.lean[_at_]qut.edu.au>
Received on Tue Jun 01 1999 - 00:22:12 GMT
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