History of Copyright Law LICS

Copyright Law The Statute of Anne (1710): “An act for the encouragement of learning, by vesting the copies of printed books in the authors or purchasers of such copies, during the times therein mentioned” U.S. CONST. art. I, Sec. 8, cl.8: “The Congress shall have the power (…) to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Time to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries”.

Origins of Copyright Law There is a strong connection between copyright’s law and technologies. The historical event that led to the implementation of a legal protection of copyrighted works was the Gutemberg’s invention of the press in the 15th century The Statute of Anne is the first Statute that grant to the authors exclusive rights (1710)

The Stationers’ Copyright In the 1556, Philip and Mary Stuart, the Roman Catholic successors to Henry VIII’s Protestant son, Edward VI, granted the Charter of the Stationers’ Company. The Charter gave the stationers the power to make “ordinances, provisions and statutes” for the governance of “the art or mistery of stationery” as well as the power to search out illegal presses and books and things with the power of “seizing, taking or burning the foresaid books or things, or any of them printed or to be printed contrary to the form of any statute, act or proclamation (…)”. The censorship exercised by the Company was a benefit to the sovereign (a weapon against unlawful publications) and a boon to the stationers (a weapon against competition).

The Stationers’ Copyright The Stationers created their copyright and kept control of it for themselves. The first English copyright, the stationers’ copyright, was a private-law copyright. It was defined only in the ordinances of the Stationers’ Company. - Registration of the book’s title (mandatory since 1662 with the Licensing Act) - Perpetual monopoly - Policies to avoid competion

The End of the Stationers’ Copyright In the XVII Century, the political scene was gradually changing: the Enlightenment and the growing consensus against monopolies and censorship that allowed stationers to avoid competition through an absolute control of the production and the distribution of works caused a fundamental change of the copyright’s nature that became an author’s right, instead of a stationers’ right. The Licensing Act of 1662 ended the public law support for the stationers’ copyright as well as press control.

The Authors’ Copyright The Statute of Anne (1710): “An act for the encouragement of learning, by vesting the copies of printed books in the authors or purchasers of such copies, during the times therein mentioned”.

The Statute of Anne The Statute of Anne granted authors a statutory copyright available only for new writings. The authors’ exclusive right consisted in the “sole liberty of printing and reprinting … books”. The authors’ exclusive right had two terms of 14 years. The second term was available only to the author if living at the end of the first term.

The booksellers’ strategy to regain control The booksellers viewed the Statute of Anne as a great threat to their monopolistic control over literature and learning for their private profit They claimed for an author’s copyright, recognized by the common law, not limited in time and for the author’s right to assign those right by contract to a bookseller. That strategy was aimed at deprive the authors of their copyright by contract and at enhancing the bookseller monopoly by that same contract. The complete failure of that strategy: Millar v. Taylor; Donaldson v. Beckett

The Authors’ Copyright in the US Constitution 1787 – U.S. Constitution art. 1, sec. 8: “The Congress shall have Power…to promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writing and Discoveries”. Key issues: the promotion if learning, the public domain, the authors’ right

The Extension and Globalization of Copyright Law 1883: draft of the International Copyright Agreement 1886: Berna Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works 1893: creation of the Bureau for the Protection of Intellectual Property. In 1967, it becomes the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) April 15th, 1994: Annex 1C to the Marakesh Agreement: Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights; GATT becomes the World Trade Organization 1996: WIPO Copyright Treaty