[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 14, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            THANKING MARYBETH PETERS FOR 40 YEARS OF SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. VERNON J. EHLERS

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 14, 2006

  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues the distinguished career of Marybeth Peters, the United 
States Register of Copyrights, and to congratulate her as she 
commemorates 40 years of service to our Government and to the American 
people.
  Marybeth Peters became the Register of Copyrights on August 7, 1994, 
the 50th person to hold that office since the appointment of the first 
Register of Copyrights, Thorvald Solberg, in 1897. The mission of the 
Copyright Office is to promote creativity by administering and 
sustaining an effective national copyright system. The Copyright Office 
administers the Copyright Act, Title 17 U.S.C.; provides policy and 
legal assistance to the Congress, the executive branch and courts; and 
provides copyright-related information and education to the public.
  As chairman of the House Administration Committee and a member of the 
Joint Committee on the Library, I want to extend my thanks for Ms. 
Peters' leadership at the Copyright Office, which is a vital component 
of the Library of Congress. The Library is the custodian of the mint 
record of American creativity largely due to copyright deposits of 
books, music, films, photographs, and other materials that reflect our 
creative society. The Americana collections of the Library--millions of 
which are available on the Library's Web site through its American 
Memory digital collections--have been assembled largely through our 
Nation's copyright system. Last year alone, the Copyright Office 
forwarded more than 1 million items to the Library for its collections. 
I want to extend deepest thanks on behalf of the Joint Committee on the 
Library to Ms. Peters for her stewardship of the Copyright Office as 
Register and her long years of service to Congress and the American 
people.
  Prior to her appointment as Register of Copyrights, Ms. Peters served 
as Policy Planning Advisor to the Register from 1983 to 1994. She has 
also served as Acting General Counsel of the Copyright Office and as 
chief of both the Examining and Information and Reference divisions. 
Ms. Peters is a frequent speaker on copyright issues. She is the author 
of the General Guide to the Copyright Act of 1976 and is recognized 
worldwide as a preeminent authority on intellectual property matters.
  Mr. Speaker, Marybeth Peters can certainly be proud of her long and 
distinguished career in Government service. We are proud of her 
leadership and her service to the Copyright Office and to the Nation.

                          ____________________