Copyright and Marriage Equality Act

Bill: 114-s-23
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Leahy, Patrick J. [D-VT]
Introduced: 2015-01-06
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Art, artists, authorship

Intellectual property

Intergovernmental relations

Marriage and family status

State and local government operations
Latest action: action_date: 2015-01-06
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S12-13; text of measure as introduced: CR S13)

Summaries:
action_date: 2015-01-06
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Copyright and Marriage Equality Act </b></p> <p>Amends federal copyright law to revise the definition of "widow" or "widower" for purposes of provisions concerning the transfer of a copyright to an author's spouse or other next of kin following the author's death. Declares that an individual is the widow or widower of an author if the courts of the state in which the individual and the author were married (or, if the individual and the author were not married in any state but were validly married in another jurisdiction, the courts of any state) would find that the individual and the author were validly married at the time of the author's death. (Currently, only the author's surviving spouse under the law of the author's domicile at the time of death is considered a widow.)</p>

tv_txt: II 114th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 23 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES January 6, 2015 Mr. Leahy (for himself, Mr. Markey , Mr. Coons , Mr. Whitehouse , Mr. Franken , and Mrs. Boxer ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 17, United States Code, with respect to the definition of widow and widower , and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Copyright and Marriage Equality Act . 2. Definition of widow and widower in title 17 , United States Code (a) In general Section 101 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by striking the definition of widow or widower and inserting the following: An individual is the widow or widower of an author if the courts of the State in which the individual and the author were married (or, if the individual and the author were not married in any State but were validly married in another jurisdiction, the courts of any State) would find that the individual and the author were validly married at the time of the author’s death, whether or not the spouse has later remarried. . (b) Effective date The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to the death of any author that occurs on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.