 | A series of talks on the history of the written word 39d. Copyright and piracy. |
Copyright in the first centuries after the introduction of printing had little to do with intellectual property, rather with the book as a commercial commodity. During the manuscript period there was no restriction on copying texts, indeed the recopying of the texts of the church fathers was encouraged and even extensive copying of living authrs was seen as flattery and recognition of their achievements. However the printer had to invest heavily in the production of an edition of several hundred copies, as well as lengthy trade negotiations to be assured of finding a reliable market. It was only too easy for a rival printer to obtain a copy of a popularwork, for which an accurate text had been located, edited, set in type, corrected, and printed off, and simply to produce a line for line reprint, frequently with poor type on poor paper and distribute it much more cheaply than the original edition. Also, there were few professional writers, researchers or men of letters who relied on their pen for theirliving. It was clear therefore that copyright resided in the print and paper of the edition rather than the ideas that it contained.
[This page to be completed from manuscript notes]
Problem faced by Aldus Manutius in Venice
early 16th cent. editions pirated in Lyons.
Culpeper's translation of the
Pharmacopoeia (1649) was held to infringe the monopoly of the College of
Physicians.
The medical works of Godfried Bidloo, published in Amsterdam 1685,
illustrations secretly imported into England and used by William Cowper
Anatomy of humane bodies 1698.
The way of avoiding piracy was for printers and publishers to apply to local authorities for the privilege or monopoly of publication of a specfic work or range of works. This went some way to solve the problem, but, until the Napoleonic wars shook up the map of Europe and Italy and the German speaking areas consolidated into larger nation states, it only gave protection to the publisher within a single jurisdiction, not much help in a Europe that was in many areas fragmented into a host of petty princedoms or city states. It was not until the 19th century that international copyright agreements began to emerge.
Monopolies in specific titles granted from 16th cent.
John Bodley, Exeter merchant, granted 7 year monopoly for Geneva
Bible.
King’s Printer from 16th cent had rights to the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer.
1603 letters patent granted to Stationers' Company books of private prayers, primers, psalters, almanacks and prognostications. Basis for the English stock, a company set up with a capital of £9,000 to administer
monopolies for benefit of the poor of the Company.
In England the lapse of the Licensing Act in 1695, while freeing up the liberty to print, also threatened the the security of copyholders. Since the 1680s there had been a revival of confidence in the Stationers' Company register as a means of protecting copyright. Booksellers were also devising their own means of mutual protection, notably by copyholders banding together to protect copyright by the control of wholesaling. Such a group could put pirates out of business by refusingto supply to them, or to distribute the books they printed. This foreshadowed the congers (combinations of publishers) of the eighteenth century. Courts were also giving permission for booksellers to sue pirates in the name of the Company. Thus booksellers were learning to reply on their own efforts as tradesmen rather than as freemen of a livery company to protect their rights.
After 1695 there was a stream of bills and pamphlets both for and against the control of the press. Many presses were now being set up in the provinces. There was also a feeling that the protection of copyright was a better policy than centralised control of printing. Though the Stationers'Company were wanting an act which would control printing by investing it with its old powers, it still voted £30 to promote the new bill.
The Copyright Act of 1710 came after three petitions for such an act from London booksellers, in 1703, 1706, and 1709. An Act for the encouragement oflearning by vesting the copies of printed books in the authors or purchasers of such copies, during the times therein mentioned set a term of 21 years for books already in print, 14 years for books printed after 4 April 1710, plus another 14 if the author were still alive after the termination of the first period. The author now became important, and this is where the 1710 act breaks new ground. If the book was a success, after 14 years the author was in a good position to bargain when reselling for the next 14 years, as copyright reverted to him after that period.
It also led to the regularisation of legal deposit. One result the disappearance of piracy, although Irish printers benefitted from the fact that the Act did not extend to them. E.g. Irish editions of the Kingsbridge poet Peter Pindar in the 1790s. Also London booksellers felt there was a common law perpetual copyright in many authors. The House of Lords upheld Alexander Donaldson's right to reprint books only in 1774.
This page last updated 14 October 2020
