Future Music Educators

Before we start looking at the details of copyright laws in place, I think it’s wise to see exactly where copyright came from. For this we must look way back to the early 1700′s.

The Statute of Anne

The Statute of Anne is the earliest legislative document involving copyright, now referred to as the origin of copyright law. With the printing press becoming ever popular, the British Parliament felt the need to protect authors. A previous law (Licensing Act 1662) gave the Stationers Company (essentially a group of printers) power to have a copy of any book that was printed. Because of this, they had a monopoly over printing and publishing. When parliament did not renew this act, this monopoly came to an end and gave way to the Statute of Anne. So in addition, this law encouraged authors to continue writing creative and useful works.

What It Covered

The Statute of Anne basically recognized the author, not the publisher, as being the holder of copyright. In addition, this law set a limit on the time a person was allowed to have copyright on a specific work before it passed into the public domain. For books that were already published, it granted twenty-one years of exclusive copyright to the author. For books that would be published in the future, it granted fourteen years of exclusive copyright to the author.

Copyright in America

The first instance of national copyright law in the United States occurred in 1790 with the Copyright Act of 1790, after several states had passed their own copyright laws. Under this legislation, authors were granted 14 years of exclusive copyright. They were also entitled to renew this copyright for another 14 years while they were still alive. Several laws passed in the decades to come lengthened a copyright holder’s time of having exclusive copyright. In addition, many other forms of intellectual property were covered. For instance, musical compositions were covered in the Copyright Act of 1831, and public performance was covered under copyright in 1897.

From an Expert’s Perspective

Below is a video from lawyer Russel Rains explaining some copyright history and the idea of intellectual property.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpuNPIQjDOk]

Resources

The Statute of Anne -http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/anne_1710.asp

The Statute of Anne in context – http://www.sandiegoaccountantsguide.com/library/Statute-of-Anne.php

Important Copyright Dates in America – http://www.copyright.gov/history/dates.pdf

Stay Tuned!

Thanks for stopping by FutureMusicEducators.Net! Many more posts will be coming in the future that will explain further elements of copyright as well as offer some great resources for you to research and stay current on copyright law. So stay tuned, and feel free to subscribe to the RSS!