Historedia
Episode 1 of 3

Passage of the International Copyright Act

When
March 3, 1891
Where
United States Capitol
Part of
International Copyright Act of 1891 passed by the 51st US Congress

The 51st Congress passed the International Copyright Act on March 3, 1891, extending limited protection to foreign copyright holders from select nations.

The act, formally known as the International Copyright Act of 1891 but commonly called the Chace Act, was passed by the 51st Congress. It was the first U.S. congressional act to offer copyright protection to citizens of countries other than the United States, marking a significant shift in legislative policy.

Sources

  1. International Copyright Act of 1891 Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-30
  2. 51st United States Congress Wikipedia, revision of 2026-05-27

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.