Copyright at NPS

"The Printing Act of 1895,[1] was a law designed to centralize in the United States Government Printing Office the printing, binding, and distribution of U.S. Government documents.[2] The Act revised public printing laws and established the roles of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and the Government Printing Office (GPO) in distributing government information. The act also assigned leadership of the program to the Superintendent of Public Documents, who would be under the control of the GPO,[3]

The Printing Act is also significant because it contained the first statutory prohibition of copyright in Government publications.[2]"

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_Act_of_1895