Thorvald Solberg (April 22, 1852 – July 15, 1949) was the first Register of Copyrights (1897–1930) in the United States Copyright Office. He was a noted authority on

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

and played an instrumental role in shaping the

Copyright Act of 1909 The Copyright Act of 1909 () was a landmark statute in United States statutory copyright law. It went into effect on July 1, 1909. The 1909 Act was repealed and superseded by the Copyright Act of 1976, which went into effect on January 1, 1978; ...

Early life

Thorvald Solberg was born in

Manitowoc, Wisconsin Manitowoc () is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2020 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,626, with ove ...

. He was the eldest of six children born of immigrant Norwegian parents. Solberg attended public schools, working for

booksellers Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

after graduation in Manitowoc,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...

, and Omaha. On May 1, 1876, Solberg began working in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

as a cataloguer. In 1876, he became part of the Library's law department staff, despite not being a lawyer. While there, he played an active role in the direction and control of the Library's

copyright registration The purpose of copyright registration is to place on record a verifiable account of the date and content of the work in question, so that in the event of a legal claim, or case of infringement or plagiarism, the copyright owner can produce a cop ...

and deposit functions. He remained in that position until he left the Library altogether in 1889 to work for the Boston Book Company.

Register of Copyrights

In 1897,

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

created the United States Copyright Office as a separate department of the Library of Congress to handle the administrative functions of copyright law. Solberg was widely supported to become the first head of the Office due to his growing reputation as a national authority on copyright (and due to some lobbying on his own part for the post). After being interviewed by President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

, Solberg was appointed by Librarian of Congress

John Russell Young John Russell Young (November 20, 1840 – January 17, 1899) was an American journalist, author, diplomat, and the seventh Librarian of the United States Congress from 1897 to 1899. He was invited by Ulysses S. Grant to accompany him on a worl ...

and took office as the first Register of Copyrights on July 22, 1897, with an annual salary of $3000 and a staff of 29 clerks. During his tenure as Register, Solberg played an active role in advancing United States copyright law. He advocated copyright reform and was instrumental in the passage of the

, one of the most significant revisions in United States copyright law. He was known as a champion for the rights of authors and supported relaxing the

registration Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

and deposit requirements of copyright law, consistent with the shift away from

copyright formalities Copyright formalities are legal (generally statutory) requirements needed to obtain a copyright in a particular jurisdiction. Common copyright formalities include copyright registration, copyright renewal, copyright notice, and copyright depos ...

in the

Berne Convention The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, was an international assembly held in 1886 in the Swiss city of Bern by ten European countries with the goal to agree on a set of leg ...

. Solberg also pushed for the United States to join the

. Thorvald Solberg retired as Register on April 21, 1930, his 78th birthday. He remains the longest-serving Register of Copyrights.

Personal life

Thorvald Solberg was married to Mary Adelaide Nourse of

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

. He resided on Capitol Hill when he began his stint as Register of Copyrights. In 1914, Solberg moved to

Glen Echo, Maryland Glen Echo is a town in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, that was chartered in 1904. The population was 255 at the 2010 census. History Glen Echo derives its name from the name of the lots developed by Edward, and Edwin Baltzley, * * ...

, where he resided until his death. Solberg was a prolific writer, and he compiled several bibliographies and compilations of United States and foreign copyright laws.

Selected writings

*''Copyright in Congress 1789-1904: A Bibliography, and Chronological Record of all Proceedings in Congress in Relation to Copyright from April 15, 1789, to April 28, 1904, First Congress, 1st Session, to Fifty-eighth Congress, 2d Session'', (Government Printing Office, February 1905) *''Copyright Law Reform'',

The Yale Law Journal The ''Yale Law Journal'' (YLJ), known also as the ''Yale Law Review'', is a student-run law review affiliated with the Yale Law School. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students ...

, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Nov., 1925), pp. 48–75 *''The International Copyright Union'',

, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Nov., 1926), pp. 68–111 *''The Present Copyright Situation'',

, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Dec., 1930), pp. 184–214

Citations

Biography of Thorvald Solberg
U.S. Copyright Office
U.S. Copyright Office History
*

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Solberg, Thorvald United States Registers of Copyright Copyright scholars American people of Norwegian descent People from Glen Echo, Maryland People from Manitowoc, Wisconsin Writers from Maryland Writers from Wisconsin 1852 births 1949 deaths