A little bit of copyright history
In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church dominated in all social aspects and also controlled literature in general by deciding which written documents would be allowed and which would be extinct and burnt. Because of this, several works of: philosophy, literature, theatre and various areas of knowledge that were written by the Romans and Greeks were lost, because they were not in accordance with the dogmas of the Church.
The only books that remained were given to the monks who took care of and preserved the works.
The idea that the work belonged solely to the writer was not present, but that they belonged exclusively to God and that God was the author of them all.
The form of social and economic organisation in the Middle Ages was feudalism. The population lived on large rural properties which were self-sufficient. This social organisation weakened with the emergence of the kingdoms of Portugal, Spain and England and also with the creation of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the middle of the 15th century.
Before Gutenberg's invention, in order to copy a book, it was necessary to have a scribe who copied page by page by hand. With this invention came the printers and the booksellers. The former were responsible for printing the books and the latter for trading in them.
The movable press was a high investment and that facilitated the copying of books in consequence of which the control of the copies was lost. Because of this event the printers called on the state to intervene to alleviate the problem under the then regime of privileges.
The regime of privileges was an economic guarantee granted to printers by the monarchs. It aimed to protect their economic activities and guarantee the control of the publishing activity by the State and the Church, since for a book to be printed and sold it needed the authorisation of the king.
Copyright in England
William Caxton introduced the printing press in England in the year 1476. This started the printing profession in the country. In the year 1518 appeared the printing patent which was the printing privilege granted by the English Crown. The privileges covered various types of books from bibles to legal works. They were for life and those for a single work lasted from 7 to 10 years.
The book trade grew and in the year 1557, the merchants received a Royal Charter (authorization granted by the British monarch for the creation of companies), with this they became the Company of Stationers of London which was responsible for ensuring compliance with the official censorship policies that existed at the time due to intense religious disputes.
A charter granted stationers, a monopoly over the book trade and secured for them exclusive printing and national regulatory powers. Stationers was a trade corporation made up of three trades: bookbinders (bookbinders), printers (printers) and the booksellers (booksellers). It had its own code of regulation, which stationer's copyright which consisted of the printer's right to copy a manuscript was different from the right to print. The aim of such regulation was to protect publishers and the book trade. Still on the Stationer's Company Mizukami explains:
In 1566, the first Star Chamber Decreewas issued regulatingprinting, granting powers of seizure. The Star Chambers Decree of 1586 was issued as a reaction to problems arising from a concentration of monopoly power in the 1580s within the Stationer's Company. As a consequence of the Decreeof 1586, the registration and control of the printing presses became compulsory, as well as restrictions on the number of apprentices, thus increasing the degree of control over the means of production itself. The Star Chamber Decree of 1637 reproducedthe content of the 1586 decree, but the focus was not on controlling book production via physical control of the press: the aim was to prevent the publication of "dangerous books", which was done through new provisions tightening the licensing system and the regime for importing books. The Star Chamber would be dissolved in 1641 by the Long Parliament, but the decree of 1637 would be resurrected by Charles II in 1662 in the form of the Licensing Act. During the Intergnum, the Long Parliment(1640-1653) would pass an ordinance in 1643, adopting an approach more similar to that of the Star Chamber Decree of 1586. A subsequent ordinance in 1647 would, however, come closer to the Decree of 1637, and was the first act of censorship that addressed both authors and printers concurrently. An ordinance of 1649 would finally be modelled. Directly from the Decree of1637, but less detailed. Probably due to dissatisfactions with the censorship practice, the ordinance of 1649 was approved with a limited duration: it would only be in force for 2 years, ceasing in 1651. The Act of 1653, however, was approved, with the intention of renewing the ordinance of 1649. A strategy was then established that would be taken up by the Licensing Act: setting limited time limits for the validity of censorship laws, but subject to periodic renewal. After the restoration, with the return of Charles II to the throne in 1660, the Licensing Act of 1662 was passed. The Act explicitly adopted the system of periodic renewals, which occurred until 1694, when the act was not renewed by decision of the House of Commons . (PATTERSON, 2004, apud MIZUKAMI, 2007, p.257, 258).
Censorship was a very important tool for the Stationer's Company, to continue the monopoly of the book market in England. In 1694, the Licensing Art was not renewed which generated a demand for a specific legislation and then in 1710, the Statute of Queen Anne was created.
The Statute of Queen Anne went down in history as the first legislation in which the author figured as a person subject to rights over his work. It gave not only the publisher but also the author the exclusive right to his work for a period of 14 years.
The bill was proposed by Edward Wortley Montagu MP, and was intended to serve the financial interests of the bourgeoisie represented by booksellers and printers.
The bill protected the right to copy printed books and also guaranteed the right to reproduce and publish, for those with proper authorisation. There were sanctions for those who published, imported or sold works without the owner's consent. Whoever infringed the rule lost the counterfeit books and paid a fine to the English crown and the author.
Therefore, Queen Anne's Statute regulated the book trade and gave greater protection to the publication of the work rather than the creation of the work. But it is a landmark because it forms the basis for the birth of the English copyright system o copyright.
Rafaela Medeiros
Tutor of the Post-graduation course in Contract Law at the Faculdade CEDIN.
Bibliography:
ALGARVE, João Henrique Kurtz Amantino Rodrigues da Silva. O copyright,o direito de autor e seus reflexos no direitos internacional privado:uma analisedo caso John Houston.2010- Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso ( Bacharelado de Direito)- Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul,Porto Alegre-2010.Disponível em: https://lume.ufrgs.br/handle/10183/27013 Acesso: 20 de Set 2020.
FERNADES, Cláudio, Invenção da imprensa. Available at: https://www.historiadomundo.com.br/idade-moderna/invencao-imprensa.htm Accessed on: 16 Sep 2020.
MIZUKAMI, Pedro Nicoletti. Social function of intellectual property: file sharing and copyright in CF/88. 2007. Dissertation (Master of Laws) - Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, São Paulo, 2007. Available at: https://sapientia.pucsp.br/bitstream/handle/7613/1/Pedro%20Nicoletti%20Mizukami.pdf. Accessed on: 20 Sep 2020.
MORAES, Rodrigo. The moral rights of the author: repersonalizing copyright. Rio de Janeiro: Lumen Juris, 2008.