Ralph Oman (born 1940 in

Huntington, New York The Town of Huntington is one of ten Administrative divisions of New York#Town, towns in Suffolk County, New York. Founded in 1653, it is located on the North Shore (Long Island), north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Lo ...

) is an American lawyer and former

Register of Copyrights The Register of Copyrights is the director of the United States Copyright Office within the Library of Congress, as provided by . The Office has been headed by a Register since 1897. The Register is appointed by, and responsible to, the Librarian ...

. He is currently the Pravel, Hewitt, Kimball and Kreiger Professorial Lecturer in Intellectual Property and Patent Law at

The George Washington University Law School The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) is the law school of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest top law school in the national capital. GW Law offers the largest range of cou ...

Education

Oman studied at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in Paris in 1960-61 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, followi ...

in 1962. In 1973, Oman received a

juris doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

degree from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, where he served as Executive Editor of the

Georgetown Journal of International Law The ''Georgetown Journal of International Law'' is a law review published by Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in ...

. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Supreme Court Bar.

Early career

From 1962 to 1964, Oman worked for the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

. He served with the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

as a

Naval Flight Officer A naval flight officer (NFO) is a commissioned officer in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps who specializes in airborne weapons and sensor systems. NFOs are not pilots (naval aviators), but they may perform many "co-pilot" or ...

from 1965 to 1970 and was decorated for his service in Vietnam. He was posted in Fort Cameron. Following law school, Oman served as law clerk to C. Stanley Blair, U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Maryland. From 1974 to 1975, Oman was a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division.

Federal Government Service

In 1975, Oman moved to the U.S. Senate, where he worked for Senator Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania as Chief Minority Counsel on the Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights. He helped the Senator draft the language and negotiate the compromises that resulted in the passage of the

Copyright Act of 1976 The Copyright Act of 1976 is a United States copyright law and remains the primary basis of copyright law in the United States, as amended by several later enacted copyright provisions. The Act spells out the basic rights of copyright holders, cod ...

. In 1977, Senator Scott retired and Oman became senior lawyer to Senator Charles Mathias of Maryland, the Senate's leading proponent of strong copyright protection. In 1982, Oman became Chief Counsel of the newly revived Subcommittee on

Patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling disclo ...

s, Copyrights, and

Trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from oth ...

s, and in 1985 he scheduled the first Senate hearing in 50 years on U.S. adherence to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. From the Chief Counsel position, Oman was appointed

on September 23, 1985. As Register, he helped move the United States into the Berne Convention in 1989. In 1990, he headed the U.S. delegation to the diplomatic conference that adopted the Washington Treaty on the Protection of Microchips, and he co-chaired the Celebration of the Bicentennial of the U.S. patent and copyright laws. During his eight years as Register, Oman made increased international protection of American copyrights his highest priority, and, to promote that effort, he established the International Copyright Institute to train foreign copyright officials. He also initiated a pilot program to convert the copyright registration process to digital/internet technology. He is one of three founding directors of the U.S. Committee for the

World Intellectual Property Organization The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishin ...

. Oman resigned as Register effective January 8, 1994. After retiring from federal service, Oman entered private practice. He began teaching at

in 1993. He is currently the Pravel, Hewitt, Kimball and Kreiger Professorial Lecturer in Intellectual Property and Patent Law at GW Law.

Amicus Curiae

Allen v. Cooper, et al.
Supreme Court of the United States, August 2019 - Copyright, Sovereign Immunity
Allen v. Cooper, et al.
Supreme Court of the United States, February 2019 - Copyright, Sovereign Immunity
Allen v. Cooper, et al.
United States Court of Appeals, October 2017 - Copyright, Sovereign Immunity
Oracle America v. Google
United States Court of Appeals, February 2017 – Copyright, Fair Use, Software
Lisa R. Kirby, et al. v. Marvel Characters, et al.
Supreme Court of the United States, June 2014 – Copyright, Work for Hire
ABC, et al. v. Aereo
Supreme Court of the United States, March 2014 - Copyright, Intellectual Property
Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
United States Court of Appeals, November 2013 – Copyright, Laches
Cambridge University Press, et al. v. Mark P. Becker
United States Court of Appeals, February 2013 – Copyright, Fair Use
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers v. United States of America
Supreme Court of the United States, June 2011 - Copyright, Electronic Files

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oman, Ralph 1940 births University of Paris alumni Hamilton College (New York) alumni American lawyers American political consultants United States Registers of Copyright Living people