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Copyrights and copyright laws, in one form or another, have been around since the invention of the printing press and movable type. Prior to the first copyright regulations, in the mid 1600′s, laws were already in force in many countries to protect authors from having their works copied and claimed a original works. This not only included printed or handwritten literary works, but works such as sheet music as well.
Prior to the invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg in the late 1430′s literary works were both written and copied by scribes who spent months to produce one manuscript, usually done by monastic scribes. Gutenberg’s invention enabled copies of books to be made much more quickly, resulting in the need to give original authors protection against unauthorized reproduction of their works. The introduction of the printing press in England resulted in the first government copyright laws being passed the Licensing Act of 1662. This act established a registration office for written works and required that a copy of each work be deposited at a special place called the Stationer’s Company. This was followed by a more formal copyright law, the Statute of Anne in 1709.
Copyright laws as we know them today were the result of the Berne Convention of 1887, which followed the Paris Conventions for Protection of Intellectual Property in 1883. Both of these statutes, which are still in force today, gave specific details regarding protection for authors outside their country of residence. The regulations, approved by the Berne Convention, required all countries signing this agreement to honor and recognize the authors of works in other countries. The Berne Convention resulted in the establishment of the United Intellectual Bureau for the Protection of Intellectual Property, which much later became the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1967.
Present copyright laws and regulations have had to undergo many changes due to changes in technology that resulted in the ease to copy other authors’ works. Copyright laws giving protection to computer software, music, photography and phonology have been much more difficult to enforce due to the ease in reproducing works. The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an agreement administered by the World Trade Organization that gives minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property.
Although the TRIPS agreement helped introduce a more universal law regarding intellectual property rights, there is still a widespread problem with piracy involving unlawful copying of all kinds of intellectual property, including music, computer software, and numerous other types.
Written by IP Patent News
