IP Law Daily, COPYRIGHT NEWS: New law helps student artists and innovators register copyrights in contest-winning works, (Oct 19, 2022)
Organizations Mentioned:Register of Copyrights
ARTS Act, signed by President Biden on October 17, directs the Copyright Office to waive copyright registration fees for winners of the Congressional Art Competition and the Congressional App Challenge.
President Biden on October 17 signed into law the “Artistic Recognition for Talented Students Act” or the “ARTS Act” (S. 169, Public Law No. 117-201), which directs the Register of Copyrights to waive the copyright registration fee for winners of the Congressional Art Competition and the Congressional App Challenge. Absent the legislation, the Register of Copyrights lacks the authority to waive the registration fee. To qualify for the fee waiver, the copyright registration application must be filed within a year after the underlying work wins the competition, but the Copyright Office may waive fees for a qualifying work even if the application is filed outside that time frame.
The bill was introduced by Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on February 2, 2021. It was cosponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent on July 13, 2021, and passed the House of Representatives on September 19, 2022.
The Congressional Art Competition—a nationwide visual art competition among high school students—was established by Congress in 1982 to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. More than 650,000 high school students have participated.
More recently, Congress established the Congressional App Challenge to foster an appreciation for computer science and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. In 2013, the House passed House Resolution 77, which outlined the plans by which Representatives would host district-by-district computer science, or “app,” competitions every year for middle school and high school students. In October of 2015 the Committee on House Administration unanimously passed the rules and regulations allowing each Representative to host an “Officially-Sanctioned” computer science competition in their districts.
“Every year, talented students across the country participate in the Congressional Art Competition and the Congressional App Competition, with the winners displaying their work in the United States Capitol,” said Senator Tillis when the bill was introduced. “I was pleased that the Senate passed this legislation unanimously last Congress, and I have had ongoing conversations about what more Washington needs to do to incentivize copyright registration. Introducing these talented students to the benefits of copyright protection is an excellent place to start.”
Senator Leahy said, “Paving the way for and inspiring the next generation of creators is fundamental to both American innovation and the arts. This bill will ensure that winners of the Congressional App and Art competitions will have their original works protected regardless of their financial abilities, and I’m proud to support it.”
News: Copyright