The story
The Statute of Anne, in force from April 10, 1710 and titled 'An Act for the Encouragement of Learning', gave authors the sole right to print their books for fourteen years, renewable for another fourteen if the author was alive, and protected existing books for twenty-one years. Pirates faced fines and loss of their copies, and books had to be registered with the Stationers' Company.
Until then, printing in England was controlled by the Stationers' Company, a guild whose members held perpetual rights under royal licensing laws. Parliament let the Licensing Act lapse in 1695, after the Glorious Revolution, and the stationers lobbied for new protection. Parliament shifted the right to authors and limited its term, so works would eventually enter the public domain. In Donaldson v Beckett (1774) the House of Lords confirmed that the statutory term, not an endless common-law right, governed. The US Constitution of 1787 and the American Copyright Act of 1790 followed the pattern, and the 1886 Berne Convention carried it across borders.
Why it mattered
- The US Constitution's copyright clause (1787) and the Copyright Act of 1790 followed its model of limited-time rights.
- The 1774 ruling in Donaldson v Beckett established the public domain as a legal concept.
- The Berne Convention (1886) created international copyright, building on national laws descended from it.
- Modern debates over copyright length, fair use and digital copying still rest on its bargain between authors, publishers and readers.
Sources
- Copyright Britannica
- The History of Copyright: Donaldson v. Beckett copyrighthistory.com (K.-E. Tallmo)
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