<chapter label="6" id="founders">
<title>CHAPTER SIX: Founders</title>
<indexterm id='idxbooksenglishcopyrightlawdevelopedfor' class='startofrange'><primary>books</primary><secondary>English copyright law developed for</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxcopyrightlawdevelopmentof' class='startofrange'><primary>copyright l
+aw</primary><secondary>development of</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxcopyrightlawenglish' class='startofrange'><primary>copyright law</primary><secondary>English</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxenglandcopyrightlawsdevelopedin' class='startofrange'><primary>England, copyright laws developed in</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxunitedkingdomhistoryofcopyrightlawin' class='startofrange'><primary>United Kingdom</primary><secondary>history of copyright law in</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Branagh, Kenneth</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Henry V</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Shakespeare, William</primary></indexterm>
copyright. Prices of the classics were thus kept high; competition to
produce better or cheaper editions was eliminated.
</para>
-<indexterm id='idxbritishparliament' class='startofrange'><primary>British Parliament</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>British Parliament</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxcopyrightdurationof2' class='startofrange'><primary>copyright</primary><secondary>duration of</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>copyright</primary><secondary>renewability of</secondary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Statute of Anne (1710)</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Now, there's something puzzling about the year 1774 to anyone who
</para>
<indexterm startref='idxromeoandjulietshakespeare' class='endofrange'/>
<indexterm startref='idxtonsonjacob' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm id='idxlawcommonvspositive' class='startofrange'><primary>law</primary><secondary>common vs. positive</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>positive law</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Licensing Act (1662)</primary></indexterm>
<para>
The reason is that the English hadn't yet agreed on what a <quote>copyright</quote>
that the publishers, or <quote>Stationers,</quote> had an exclusive right to print
books.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxcopyrightdurationof2' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm><primary>common law</primary></indexterm>
<para>
There was no <emphasis>positive</emphasis> law, but that didn't mean
that there was no law. The Anglo-American legal tradition looks to
question after the licensing statutes had expired was whether the
common law protected a copyright, independent of any positive law.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxlawcommonvspositive' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm><primary>Conger</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxbritishparliament' class='startofrange'><primary>British Parliament</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Scottish publishers</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxstatuteofanne' class='startofrange'><primary>Statute of Anne (1710)</primary></indexterm>
<para>
This question was important to the publishers, or <quote>booksellers,</quote> as
they were called, because there was growing competition from foreign
ultimately
resulted in the Statute of Anne.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxcopyrightasnarrowmonopolyright' class='startofrange'><primary>copyright</primary><secondary>as narrow monopoly right</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
The Statute of Anne granted the author or <quote>proprietor</quote> of a book an
exclusive right to print that book. In an important limitation,
published by anyone. Or so the legislature is thought to have
believed.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxstatuteofanne' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
Now, the thing to puzzle about for a moment is this: Why would
Parliament limit the exclusive right? Not why would they limit it to
the particular limit they set, but why would they limit the right
<emphasis>at all?</emphasis>
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxbritishparliament' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm><primary>Shakespeare, William</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)</primary></indexterm>
<para>
For the booksellers, and the authors whom they represented, had a very
strong claim. Take <citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle> as an example: That play
Statute of Anne. Second, we have to see something important about
<quote>booksellers.</quote>
</para>
+<indexterm><primary>copyright</primary><secondary>usage restrictions attached to</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
First, about copyright. In the last three hundred years, we have come
to apply the concept of <quote>copyright</quote> ever more broadly. But in 1710, it
distribute, the exclusive right to perform, and so on.
</para>
<indexterm><primary>Branagh, Kenneth</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Shakespeare, William</primary></indexterm>
<para>
So, for example, even if the copyright to Shakespeare's works were
perpetual, all that would have meant under the original meaning of the
right to print—no less, of course, but also no more.
</para>
<indexterm><primary>Henry VIII, King of England</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxmonopolycopyrightas' class='startofrange'><primary>monopoly, copyright as</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Statute of Monopolies (1656)</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Even that limited right was viewed with skepticism by the British.
only so long as it benefited society. The British saw the harms from
specialinterest favors; they passed a law to stop them.
</para>
-<indexterm id='idxbooksellers' class='startofrange'><primary>booksellers, English</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Milton, John</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxbooksellersenglish' class='startofrange'><primary>booksellers, English</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Conger</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxcopyrightdurationof3' class='startofrange'><primary>copyright</primary><secondary>duration of</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
Second, about booksellers. It wasn't just that the copyright was a
monopoly. It was also that it was a monopoly held by the booksellers.
Property</citetitle> (New York: J. Messner, Inc., 1937), 31.
</para></footnote>
</para>
+<indexterm><primary>Enlightenment</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>knowledge, freedom of</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Many believed the power the booksellers exercised over the spread of
knowledge was harming that spread, just at the time the Enlightenment
the time, and these powerful commercial interests were interfering
with that idea.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxbritishparliament2' class='startofrange'><primary>British Parliament</primary></indexterm>
<para>
To balance this power, Parliament decided to increase competition
among booksellers, and the simplest way to do that was to spread the
an indirect way to assure competition among publishers, and thus the
construction and spread of culture.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxstatuteofanne2' class='startofrange'><primary>Statute of Anne (1710)
+</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxcopyrightinperpetuity' class='startofrange'><primary>copyright</primary><secondary>in perpetuity</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
When 1731 (1710 + 21) came along, however, the booksellers were
getting anxious. They saw the consequences of more competition, and
</para></footnote>
</para>
</blockquote>
+<indexterm startref='idxstatuteofanne2' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxcopyrightinperpetuity' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm><primary>common law</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>law</primary><secondary>common vs. positive</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>positive law</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Having failed in Parliament, the publishers turned to the courts in a
series of cases. Their argument was simple and direct: The Statute of
Statute of Anne copyright had expired. This, they argued, was the only
way to protect authors.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxbritishparliament2' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm id='idxdonaldsonalexander' class='startofrange'><primary>Donaldson, Alexander</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Patterson, Raymond</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxscottishpublishers' class='startofrange'><primary>Scottish publishers</primary></indexterm>
<para>
This was a clever argument, and one that had the support of some of
the leading jurists of the day. It also displayed extraordinary
Donaldson's. A number of actions were successful against the <quote>pirates,</quote>
the most important early victory being <citetitle>Millar</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Taylor</citetitle>.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxdonaldsonalexander' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxscottishpublishers' class='endofrange'/>
<indexterm><primary>Seasons, The (Thomson)</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Taylor, Robert</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Court. In February of 1774, that body had the chance to interpret the
meaning of Parliament's limits from sixty years before.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxdonaldsonvbeckett' class='startofrange'><primary>Donaldson v. Beckett</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxcommonlaw2' class='startofrange'><primary>common law</primary></indexterm>
<para>
As few legal cases ever do, <citetitle>Donaldson</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Beckett</citetitle> drew an
enormous amount of attention throughout Britain. Donaldson's lawyers
Justices in our Supreme Court. Then, after the law lords voted, the
House of Lords generally voted.
</para>
+<indexterm id='idxcopyrightinperpetuity3' class='startofrange'><primary>copyright</primary><secondary>in perpetuity</secondary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxpublicdomainenglishlegalestablishmentof' class='startofrange'><primary>public domain</primary><secondary>English legal establishment of</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
The reports about the law lords' votes are mixed. On some counts,
it looks as if perpetual copyright prevailed. But there is no ambiguity
fixed for a limited time, after which the work protected by copyright
passed into the public domain.
</para>
+<indexterm><primary>Bacon, Francis</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Bunyan, John</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Johnson, Samuel</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Milton, John</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Shakespeare, William</primary></indexterm>
<para>
<quote>The public domain.</quote> Before the case of <citetitle>Donaldson</citetitle>
v. <citetitle>Beckett</citetitle>, there was no clear idea of a public domain in
over creative works expired, and the greatest works in English
history—including those of Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, Johnson,
and Bunyan—were free of legal restraint.
-<indexterm><primary>Bacon, Francis</primary></indexterm>
-<indexterm><primary>Bunyan, John</primary></indexterm>
-<indexterm><primary>Johnson, Samuel</primary></indexterm>
-<indexterm><primary>Milton, John</primary></indexterm>
-<indexterm><primary>Shakespeare, William</primary></indexterm>
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxcommonlaw2' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxcopyrightinperpetuity3' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxpublicdomainenglishlegalestablishmentof' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm><primary>Scottish publishers</primary></indexterm>
<para>
It is hard for us to imagine, but this decision by the House of Lords
fueled an extraordinarily popular and political reaction. In Scotland,
</para></footnote>
</para>
</blockquote>
+<indexterm><primary>House of Lords</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>free culture</primary><secondary>English legal establishment of</secondary></indexterm>
<para>
<!-- PAGE BREAK 105 -->
<quote>Ruined</quote> is a bit of an exaggeration. But it is not an exaggeration to
culture is available to people and how they get access to it are made
by the few despite the wishes of the many.
</para>
-<indexterm startref='idxbooksellers' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxbooksellersenglish' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm><primary>British Parliament</primary></indexterm>
<para>
At least, this was the rule in a world where the Parliament is
antimonopoly, resistant to the protectionist pleas of publishers. In a
world where the Parliament is more pliant, free culture would be less
protected.
</para>
-<indexterm startref='idxbritishparliament' class='endofrange'/>
<indexterm startref='idxbooksenglishcopyrightlawdevelopedfor' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxcopyrightlawdevelopmentof' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxcopyrightlawenglish' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxenglandcopyrightlawsdevelopedin' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxunitedkingdomhistoryofcopyrightlawin' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxcopyrightasnarrowmonopolyright' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxmonopolycopyrightas' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxbooksellersenglish' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxcopyrightdurationof3' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxdonaldsonvbeckett' class='endofrange'/>
<!-- PAGE BREAK 106 -->
</chapter>
<chapter label="7" id="recorders">