L. Ray Patterson Copyright Award
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The L. Ray Patterson Copyright Award
The Patterson Copyright Award recognizes contributions of an individual or group that pursues and supports the Constitutional purpose of the U.S. Copyright Law, fair use, and the public domain. The award is named after L. Ray Patterson, a key legal figure who explained and justified the importance of the public domain and fair use. He helped articulate that copyright law was negatively shifting from its original purpose and overly favoring rights of copyright holders. His book, The Nature of Copyright: A Law of Users’ Rights, is the definitive book on the constitutional underpinnings of copyright and the critical importance of the public domain.
Past Award Recipients
| Year | Recipient | Title |
| 2017 | Jonathan Band | Copyright Attorney and Adjunct Professor, Georgetown Law School |
| 2016 | Melissa Levine | Principal Investigator, Copyright Review Management System |
| 2014 | Georgia Harper | Scholarly Communications Advisor, The University of Texas at Austin Libraries |
| 2012 | Winston Tabb | Dean of Libraries and Museums, Johns Hopkins University |
| 2011 | Peter Suber | Open Access Project Director, Public Knowledge |
| 2010 | Fred von Lohmann | Senior Staff Attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation |
| 2009 | Jack Bernard | Assistant General Counsel, University of Michigan |
| 2008 | Peggy Hoon | Special Assistant to the Provost for Copyright Administration, North Carolina State University |
| 2007 | Peter Jaszi | Professor of Law and Director of the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic, American University’s Washington College of Law |
| 2006 | Prudence Adler | Associate Executive Director, Federal Relations and Information Policy, Association of Research Libraries |
| 2005 | Kenneth Crews | Columbia University |
