Origins of American Copyright Law
English Creator's Law Provided the Foundation for U.S. Law
Little in the history of the United States is without root in a prior culture. Copyright law, a controversial topic in all times, is no exception. In fact, the United States owes almost the entirety of its copyright system to the British system that came before it.
The Stationers' Company
In 15th century England, book copying, binding, illuminating, and selling was dominated by a guild of stationers. After the invention of type, it gradually became a printer's guild and was given monopoly status by the Crown. Partially a response to the growing popularity of the writings of William Tyndale, as well as the rest of the Protestant Reformation, the Stationers' Company had the authority to seize books unlawfully printed.
The Stationers' charter ensured that once a book was entered in the official record, it could not be produced by another printer. Rights were given, not to the original author, but to the printer who had paid the author for the book. Under the Stationers' monopoly, copyright was perpetual, although rights could be sold and transferred by the printers.
The Statute of Anne
The English Civil War, which partially came about because of abusive monopoly power, gave birth to the first modern copyright law. The Statue of Anne, or "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", granted authors rather than printers the right to reproduce works. Individuals gaining the power of copyright was a big change from the monopolies the guild once possessed.
A second change the Statute brought about was limiting the time of copyright. Works already in print were given twenty-one years exclusive rights, while new works received fourteen years, with the opportunity for an additional fourteen if the author was still living. Once copyright expired, the work would enter the public domain, giving anyone the right to print.
While the changes brought about by the Statute of Anne revolutionized copyright, it was not without problems. The law only extended to England, Scotland, and Wales; printers in Ireland and the American colonies routinely printed works which were under copyright.
Donaldson v. Beckett
The printers, who had enjoyed a monopoly under the older system, did not go away quietly. While they enjoyed a continuance of their monopoly for twenty-one years, they wanted something of a common law copyright that would continue in perpetuity. This did not accord with the Statute of Anne, but the printers held that copyright holders had a natural right to a perpetual monopoly. In 1774, the House of Lords declared there was no common law copyright, thus upholding the Statute.
Conclusion
The American founders, only a few years later, would include a similar copyright law into the new federal system. As with the struggles in England, American copyright would prove to be controversial for years to come.
References:
Patterson, Lyman Ray. Copyright in Historical Perspective. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1968.
Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture. New York: Penguin Press, 2004.
