Forgotten wrote: ↑Thu Dec 26, 2019 8:44 pmIf I recall correctly, copyright did not protect the rights of the author for a long time after its original implementations in Europe - it was enacted originally to protect the rights of publishers from republishing (and thus losing potential revenue).
Basically it came about with the widespread use of the printing press.
Conception
The concept of copyright first developed in England. In reaction to the printing of "scandalous books and pamphlets", the English Parliament passed the Licensing of the Press Act 1662,[15] which required all intended publications to be registered with the government-approved Stationers' Company, giving the Stationers the right to regulate what material could be printed.[18]
The Statute of Anne, enacted in 1710 in England and Scotland provided the first legislation to protect copyrights (but not authors' rights). The Copyright Act of 1814 extended more rights for authors but did not protect British from reprinting in the US. The Berne International Copyright Convention of 1886 finally provided protection for authors among the countries who signed the agreement, although the US did not join the Berne Convention until 1989.[19]
In the US, the Constitution protects the rights of authors and the legislature, Congress, can create national copyright laws but must exercise their power within the scope of the Constitution. Modeled on the Statute of Anne, Congress enacted the Copyright Act of 1790. While the national law protected authors’ published works, authority was granted to the states to protect authors’ unpublished works. These two protections exist today: protection by the state for unpublished work, subsequent protection by federal law for published work.[19]
Congress enacted an updated law in 1909, which was later determined to be flawed and was subsequently replaced by the 1976 Copyright Act. This act expanded the items that were eligible for protection, including literary, music, dramatic, pictorial/sculptural works, motion pictures, sound recordings, and choreographic works. This act also extended the copyright protection to life plus 50 years. One final change was that it “codified a fair use exception to copyright”. With these changes in place, the US was in a better position to join the Berne Convention, extending copyright protections internationally.[19]
[19] = Sandra Day O’Connor in Irish Jurist
