Barbara Ringer | |
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8th Register of Copyrights | |
In office November 19, 1973 – May 30, 1980 |
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Preceded by | George D. Cary |
Succeeded by | David Ladd |
Acting Register of Copyrights | |
In office November 1993 – August 1994 |
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Preceded by | Ralph Oman |
Succeeded by | Marybeth Peters |
Personal details | |
Born |
Lafayette, Indiana |
May 29, 1925
Died | April 9, 2009 Lexington, Virginia |
(aged 83)
Residence | Bath County, Virginia |
Alma mater | Columbia Law School (J.D.), George Washington University (B.A. and M.A.) |
Barbara Ringer (May 29, 1925 – April 9, 2009) was one of the lead architects of the 1976 Copyright Act. She spent much of her career lobbying Congress and drafting legislation that overhauled the 1909 Copyright Act.
Ringer was the first woman to serve as the Register of Copyrights in the United States Copyright Office. During her three decades with the United States Copyright Office, Ringer gained a reputation as an authority on copyright law.
Barbara Alice Ringer was born in Lafayette, Indiana on May 29, 1925. Her mother was the only woman in the University of Michigan School of Law Class of 1923. Both of Ringer's parents worked as government lawyers.
She was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of George Washington University in 1945, and received her master of arts degree from George Washington in 1947. Ringer graduated from Columbia Law School in 1949, where she was one only a few women in her class. Ringer joined the Copyright Office as an examiner after graduating.
Ringer began her career the Copyright Office staff in 1949. She served as the head of the Renewal and Assignment Section; the assistant chief, acting chief and chief of the Examining Division; assistant Register of Copyrights for Examining; and the assistant Register of Copyrights.
She helped draft the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) and served as a general rapporteur for the establishment of the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcast Organizations. Ringer contributed to the 1967 Intellectual Property Conference at Stockholm that further revised the UCC and Berne Convention. Ringer also taught at the Georgetown University Law Center, where she was the university's first woman adjunct professor of law.