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 XVII

COPYRIGHT OFFICE: METHODS AND PRACTICE

Under the early American copyright laws, copy- History of right entries and deposits were made in the clerk's Copyright office of the respective District courts and there was '* no central copyright office. The deposit copies were not properly cared for, but what remained were col- lected into the vaults of the national Capitol when copyright administration was centralized in the Li- brary of Congress. Under the law of 1870, the Libra- rian of Congress was made the copyright officer, and for many years Ainsworth R. Spofford, occupying that position, personally recorded entries and did much of the work. Before the close of his administration of the Library, and while it was still housed in the Capi- tol, the copyright business required the services of a staff including at the last twenty-four persons. By a special act of 1897, the office of Register of Copy- rights was created, subject to the authority of the Librarian of Congress, who remains the ultimate ad- ministrative authority. The code of 1909 provided also for an assistant register of copyrights. The Copyright Office now occupies the southern end of the ground floor in the new Library building and the staff has increased to eighty-four persons.

When a book is deposited for registration, accom- Routine of panied by the claim for copyright, preferably on the registration application form gratuitously provided by the Copy- right Office, its class designation, with its acces- sion or sequence number in that class, is at once stamped upon the deposit copy or copies, with the date of receipt, and also upon a green record slip on