Historedia
Episode 2 of 2

Copyright Registration

When
18 September 1899
Where
Sedalia, Missouri
Part of
Copyright registration of Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag

The Maple Leaf Rag was registered for copyright on September 18, 1899, following the receipt of two copies of the score by the United States Copyright Office.

Joplin signed a contract with John Stillwell Stark on August 10, 1899. The piece was published between August 10 and September 20, 1899. The copyright was officially registered on September 18, 1899, establishing the legal basis for its commercial success.

Sources

  1. Maple Leaf Rag Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-25

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.