26 Facts About Barbara Ringer

Barbara Ringer was one of the lead architects of the 1976 Copyright Act.

Barbara Ringer spent much of her career lobbying Congress and drafting legislation that overhauled the 1909 Copyright Act.

Barbara Alice Ringer was born in Lafayette, Indiana on May 29,1925.

Barbara Ringer's mother was the only woman in the University of Michigan School of Law Class of 1923.

Barbara Ringer was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of George Washington University in 1945, and received her master of arts degree from George Washington in 1947.

Barbara Ringer graduated from Columbia Law School in 1949, where she was one of only a few women in her class.

Barbara Ringer joined the Copyright Office as an examiner after graduating.

Barbara Ringer began her career on the Copyright Office staff in 1949.

Barbara Ringer 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.

Barbara Ringer helped draft the Universal Copyright Convention and served as a general rapporteur for the establishment of the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcast Organizations.

Barbara Ringer contributed to the 1967 Intellectual Property Conference at Stockholm that further revised the UCC and Berne Convention.

Barbara Ringer taught at the Georgetown University Law Center, where she was the university's first woman adjunct professor of law.

Barbara Ringer worked as the Director of the Copyright Division of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in Paris from 1972 to 1973.

In 1985, Barbara Ringer served as the general rapporteur of the Brussels conference, which adopted the international Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite provision of the Berne Convention.

Barbara Ringer returned to government in 1993 to serve as Co-Chair of the Librarian's Advisory Committee on Copyright Registration and Deposit and as the Acting Register of Copyrights.

Barbara Ringer published studies, monographs, and articles in legal and professional journals and conducted empirical research about copyright law throughout her career.

In 1971, Barbara Ringer was passed over for the position of Register of Copyrights, the highest copyright-related position in the United States.

Barbara Ringer pointed to her willingness to speak openly about racial problems and her advocacy for the rights of African American employees as evidence of racial discrimination.

Barbara Ringer was appointed as the 8th Register of Copyrights on November 19,1973.

Barbara Ringer wrote and spoke about how copyright laws should be updated to reflect new technologies, including television, commercial radio, and copy machines.

Barbara Ringer made many key contributions over the 1976 Copyright Act's 21 years of development, including negotiating with stakeholders and lobbying Congress to fuel interest in updating copyright law.

In 1977, Barbara Ringer was awarded the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service for her role in the passage of the 1976 Copyright Act.

Barbara Ringer later drafted the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992, which repealed termination and provided for automatic renewal for works copyrighted between 1964 and 1997.

Barbara Ringer moved to rural Bath County, Virginia, where she cataloged books at her local public library.

Barbara Ringer died in Lexington, Virginia on April 9,2009, due to complications from dementia.

Barbara Ringer willed her collection of 20,000 movies and 1,500 books on film to the Library of Congress.