A history of copyright (www.intellectual-property.gov.uk)
From Partiapiratow
It was not until the 1709 Statute of Anne which passed into law on 10th April 1710 that copyright in books and other writings gained protection of an Act of Parliament. Prior to this, disputes over the rights to the publishing of books could be enforced by common law.
The scholars of Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire were the first to be concerned about being recognised as the authors of their works, but they did not have any economic rights. It was not until the invention of printing in the late fifteenth century that a form of copyright protection was devised. Until then, the copying of a manuscript was a painstakingly slow process done mainly by monks. It was limited to copying religious works for orders and the royal courts of Europe. The majority of people were illiterate; only privileged members of society had access to these manuscripts.
LICENSING ACT 1662
The ability to print books easily and cheaply raised the issue of piracy. As the number of printers increased in England, the King exercised the royal prerogative to regulate the book trade and protect printers against piracy. This was the first of many decrees to control what was being printed. It was the Licensing Act of 1662 which established a register of licensed books, along with the requirement to deposit a copy of the book to be licensed. Deposit was administered by the Stationers' Company who were given powers to seize books suspected of containing matters hostile to the Church or Government. By 1681 the Licensing Act had been repealed and the Stationers' Company had passed a by-law that established rights of ownership for books registered to a number of its members so as to continue regulating the printing trade themselves.
STATUTE OF ANNE
The passing of the Statute of Anne, which was the first Copyright Act in the world to deal with this issue, introduced two new concepts - an author being the owner of copyright and the principle of a fixed term of protection for published works. The Act also brought about the depositing of nine copies of a book to certain libraries throughout the country. Subsequent Copyright Acts introduced copyright protection for other works. The term of protection was also extended.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT ACT 1886 AND THE BERNE CONVENTION
In 1875 a Royal Commission suggested that the present Acts should be improved and codified and strongly advised the Government to enter into a bilateral copyright agreement with America to provide reciprocal protection of British and US authors. After preparatory work had been carried out for the forthcoming Conference of Powers (resulting in the framing of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works), the International Copyright Act of 1886 was passed. The 1886 Act abolished the requirement to register foreign works and introduced an exclusive right to import or produce translations. British copyright law was extended to works produced in British possessions. The UK ratified the Berne Convention with effect from 5th December 1887.
COPYRIGHT ACT 1911
On the 1st July 1912 the Copyright Act 1911 came into force. It brought provisions on copyright into one Act for the first time by revising and repealing most earlier Acts. Amendments included the introduction of a further extension of the term of protection, together with a new arrangement for calculating the term of copyright. Records, perforated rolls, sound recordings and works of architecture also gained protection. The Act also abolished the requirement to register copyright with Stationers Hall - a fundamental principle of the Berne Convention. The Act abolished common law copyright protection in unpublished works, apart from unpublished paintings drawings and photographs.
COPYRIGHT ACT 1956
The Copyright Act 1956 came into force on 1st June 1957. It took into account further amendments to the Berne Convention and the UKs accession to the Universal Copyright Convention, administered by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Other amendments included new technological advances, for example, films and broadcasts, which were protected in their own right for the first time by copyright. The Performing Right Tribunal, the predecessor of the current Copyright Tribunal was also established.
Several amendments were made to the 1956 Act prior to the introduction of the current legislation Part 1 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which came into force on 1st August 1989. The 1988 Act provided another major overhaul and updating of copyright law but the process has continued since then with a number of amendments, many implementing various European Directives. It is an ongoing process.
