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WHERE
DOES COPYRIGHT - THE "RIGHT TO COPY" COME FROM?
The first copyright Act of
Parliament dates back as far as the 18th century to the Statute of Anne in 1709.
The Statute of Anne, also known as the Copyright Act 1709 (cited either as 8 Ann. c. 21 or as 8 Ann. c. 19), is an act of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1710, which was the first statute to provide for copyright regulated by the government and courts, rather than by private parties.
Prior to the statute’s enactment in 1710, copying restrictions were authorized by the Licensing of the Press Act 1662. These restrictions were enforced by the Stationers’ Company, a guild of printers given the exclusive power to
print - and the responsibility to censor - literary works. The censorship administered under the Licensing Act led to public protest; as the act had to be renewed at two-year intervals, authors and others sought to prevent its
re-authorisation, In 1694, Parliament refused to renew the Licensing Act, ending the Stationers’ monopoly and press restrictions.
Over the next 10 years the Stationers repeatedly advocated bills to re-authorize the old licensing system, but Parliament declined to enact them. Faced with this failure, the Stationers decided to
emphasize the benefits of licensing to authors rather than publishers, and the Stationers succeeded in getting Parliament to consider a new bill. This bill, which after substantial amendments was granted Royal Assent on 5 April 1710, became known as the Statute of Anne due to its passage during the reign of Queen Anne. The new law prescribed a copyright term of 14 years, with a provision for renewal for a similar term, during which only the author and the printers they chose to license their works to could publish the author’s creations. Following this, the work’s copyright would expire, with the material falling into the public domain. Despite a period of instability known as the Battle of the Booksellers when the initial copyright terms under the Statute began to expire, the Statute of Anne remained in force until the Copyright Act 1842 replaced it.
The statute is considered a “watershed event in Anglo-American copyright history … transforming what had been the publishers’ private law copyright into a public law grant”. Under the statute, copyright was for the first time vested in authors rather than publishers; it also included provisions for the public interest, such as a legal deposit scheme. The Statute was an influence on copyright law in several other nations, including the United States, and even in the 21st century is “frequently invoked by modern judges and academics as embodying the utilitarian underpinnings of copyright law”.
JOHANNES
GUTENBURG'S PRINTING PRESS
The concept of protecting a work from being copied and sold by other people though is even older.
This can be traced back to the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century. It was at this point in history that a greater emphasis was placed on the notion of protecting your work, as a small number of people began using, printing and selling copies of other people's work in large amounts and selling them for a profit. Through the Statute of Anne, writers could choose who to allow to copy their work, for a period of 14 years. They could decide what to charge for the copies and choose their own printers.
As well as providing a greater level of control, copyright law had another effect. By having a set of legal rules controlled by parliament, authors and other creative people could be rewarded for their creative time spent, (what today's copyright law calls “labour and skill”) in ways like a wage or a salary. This gave them an income to put towards the day to day cost of living, and time to spend on being more creative.
While the UK focused on the right to copy or “copy-right”, other countries like Germany or France took a more philosophical approach. There it was regarded as a human right and the process of creating something original like a book or a poem was seen as an act inspired by God.
Both of these legal statutes, the Urheberrechtsgesetz in Germany and the Droit d’auteur in France, literally mean “authors’ rights” or “rights of the author”.
COPYRIGHT
- This hand built prototype vehicle, is copyright protected. Designs may
also be registered, but the artistic copyright is automatically covered,
with each photograph and drawing, and of course the full size bodywork,
chassis layout, interior design, etc., etc, is protected by Design
Copyright. It makes a nonsense of the
patent system, that costs so much, no start up could ever compete. And
generally, the existing companies, do not want you competing, though
some will be scouting for talent and skills. Students with no previous
experience helped to build this custom car, now on display at a private
museum in Sussex - though not yet open to the general public.
Copyright is legal right that protects the use of your work once your idea has been physically expressed. The current copyright legislation in the UK is the
Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988. You can find out more about copyright legislation by visiting the Intellectual Property
Offices (websites) in your country, or the WIPO, international World
Intellectual Property Organization, a division of the United
Nations. See the Berne
Convention.
EXAMPLES
OF WORKS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT:
Literary works such as books, blogs, articles, poems
Underlying Musical score, composition, lyrics
Commercial music
Photographs
Artworks
Film footage
WHEN IS YOUR (MY) WORK PROTECTED BY
COPYRIGHT
HOW DO YOU COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK?
HOW LONG DOES COPYRIGHT PROTECTION LAST FOR?
WHAT ARE EXCEPTIONS TO COPYRIGHT PROTECTION?
IS YOUR WORK PROTECTED IN THE UK & INTERNATIONALLY?
HOW DO YOU CREATE COPYRIGHT?
HOW IS YOUR WORK PROTECTED?
HOW ABOUT UPLOADING YOUR WORK TO THE INTERNET?
WHAT If SOMEONE WANTS TO USE YOUR WORK?
HOW CAN YOU BE ACKNOWLEDGED FOR USE OF YOUR WORK?
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