II
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 23
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 6, 2015
Mr. Leahy (for himself, Mr. Markey, Mr. Coons, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Franken, and Mrs. Boxer) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 17, United States Code, with respect to the definition of widow
and widower
, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Copyright and Marriage Equality Act
.
Definition of widow and widower in title 17, United States Code
In general
Section 101 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by striking the definition of
and inserting the following:widow
or widower
An individual is the widow
or widower
of an author if the courts of the State in which the individual and the author were married (or,
if the individual and the author were not married in any State but were
validly married in another jurisdiction, the courts of any State) would
find that the individual and the author were validly married at the time
of the author’s death, whether or not the spouse has later remarried.
.
Effective date
The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to the death of any author that occurs on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
