The Copyright Society Mourns the Passing of Marybeth Peters

The Copyright Society is deeply saddened by the passing of former United States Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters, who died yesterday after a long illness. 

Ms. Peters, who led the U.S. Copyright Office from 1994 through 2010, will be remembered for immeasurable contributions to U.S. copyright law. In a distinguished career that spanned more than four decades, she helped implement both the 1976 Copyright Act, which still forms the backbone of U.S. copyright law, and the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was instrumental to responding to the challenges of new technologies. She was known around the world for her expertise in both domestic and international copyright law and championed many important initiatives to streamline and modernize U.S. Copyright Office practice.

“Marybeth was an undisputed giant of the copyright community,” said Casey Chisick, President of the Copyright Society. “Her influence on copyright law, in the U.S. and around the world, will be felt for many years to come. But we will also remember her as a devoted member and friend of the Copyright Society, a mainstay of our national meetings, whose annual address, The View from the Copyright Office, was both enormously informative and reliably entertaining. She was a wise and dedicated mentor, an inspiring role model, and a personal friend to many of us. We will miss her and cherish her memory forever.”