Abraham L. Kaminstein

Abraham Lewis Kaminstein (May 13, 1912&mdash;September 10, 1977) was the sixth United States Register of Copyright. He first entered the role in an acting capacity after the death of his predecessor, Arthur Fisher, in November 1960. The Librarian of Congress, L. Quincy Mumford, officially appointed him on December 24, 1960, and he served until August 31, 1971, when he resigned due to poor health and was succeeded by George D. Cary.

Starting in the 1950s, Kaminstein was instrumental in initiating the early research that eventually culminated in a general revision of the copyright law in the United States and the Copyright Act of 1976. He was a major delegate of the United States to meetings of parties to the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention.