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On October 19, Ralph Oman, the former U.S. Register of Copyrights, visited Texas A&M University School of Law to deliver his lecture, “The US Copyright Office: Transitioning to the Digital Age, Finally.”

During his lecture, which was part of Texas A&M Law’s “Perspectives on Practice” Speaker Series, Oman discussed the role and evolution of the U.S. Copyright Office, including the challenges it encounters in the digital age. He also shared with students and faculty interesting experiences during his tenure as the Register of Copyrights.

“One of the goals of our speaker series is to bring to the campus thought leaders in the intellectual property field,” said Professor Peter Yu, who joined the law school this past summer as co-director of the Center for Law and Intellectual Property (CLIP). “For copyright law students, there is nothing more inspiring than to learn directly from a former Register of Copyrights.”

Oman served as the U.S. Register of Copyrights from 1985 to 1993. Before then, he served as the chief counsel to the Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the chief minority counsel to the Senate Subcommittee on Patent, Copyrights, and Trademarks. During his tenure, Oman helped draft the language and negotiate the compromises that resulted in the passage of the 1976 Copyright Act, the current copyright statute.

After retiring from federal service in 1993, Oman entered private practice. He now serves as Pravel, Hewitt, Kimball and Kreiger Professorial Lecturer in Intellectual Property and Patent Law at The George Washington University Law School.

Since its establishment in spring 2009, CLIP has brought to the campus leading intellectual property academics and practitioners to discuss cutting-edge topics. In April 2016, David Kappos, the former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and former director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, will deliver a keynote address at the center's annual symposium, “Intellectual Property in All the New Places.”