English Licensing Act, London (1662) .............

An act for preventing the frequent abuses in printing seditious, treasonable, and unlicensed books and pamphlets, and for regulating of printing and printing-presses. Whereas the well-government and regulating of printers and printing-presses is matter of public care and of great concernment — especially considering that by the general licentiousness of the late times many evil-disposed persons have been encouraged to print and sell heretical, schismatical, blasphemous, seditious, and treasonable books, pamphlets, and papers, and still do continue such their unlawful and exorbitant practice, to the high dishonour of Almighty God…

And be it enacted ... that every person and persons who ... are ... authorized to license the imprinting of books, or reprinting thereof with any additions or amendments, as aforesaid, shall have one written copy of the same book or books which shall be so licensed ... with the titles [etc.] ... thereunto annexed ...; and upon the said copy licensed to be imprinted he or they, who shall so license the same, shall testify under his or their hand or hands that there is not anything in the same contained that is contrary to the Christian faith or the doctrine or discipline of the Church of England, or against the state or government of this realm, or contrary to good life or good manners, or otherwise as the nature and subject of the work shall require — which licence or approbation shall be printed in the beginning of the same book, with the name or names of him or them that shall authorize or license the same, for a testimony of the allowance thereof....

And be it further enacted ... that every printer shall reserve three printed copies of the best and largest paper of every book new printed, or reprinted by him with additions, and shall, before any public vending of the said book, bring them to the master of the Company of Stationers and deliver them to him; one whereof shall be delivered to the keeper of his majesty's library, and the other two to be sent to the vice-chancellors of the two universities respectively, for the use of the public libraries of the said universities.

from Parliamentary Licensing Act (1662)

 

Commentary...................................................................

As the selections from the 1662 English Licensing Act make clear, the primary rationale for the act was to prevent the proliferation of individual printers from making unsanctioned copies of books that were considered as contributing to the “general licentiousness” of the time. While censorship may have been the primary motivation for the document, this act, which allowed printers the “right to copy,” also enabled individual printers the rights afforded by a temporary monopoly on a given text. Many booksellers and printers were located in London, and as such, unauthorized copying could be traced to specific printers. Unauthorized copying and licentious materials from such printers could often be traced to a specific location and the perpetrators punished. In reality, the right to copy represented in the 1662 Licensing Act made censorship easier to enforce, but did little to prevent book “piracy.” We can also note the utilitarian rationale in the document, as it states that “every printer shall reserve three printed copies of the best and largest paper of every book new printed” in order to distribute one copy “to the keeper of his majesty's library” and two “to the vice-chancellors of the two universities respectively, for the use of the public libraries of the said universities.” This act would expire in 1679, only to be renewed again in 1685 and then expire again in 1692.

 

John Locke's Memorandum (1694) ..................

I know not why a man should not have liberty to print whatever he would speak; and to be answerable for the one, just as he is for the other, if he transgresses the law in either. But gagging a man, for fear he should talk heresy or sedition, has no other ground than such as will make gives necessary, for fear a man should use violence if his hands were free, and must at last end in the imprisonment of all who you suspect may be guilty of treason or misdemeanor.

By this clause, the Company of Stationers have a monopoly of all the classical authors; and scholars cannot, but at excessive rates, have the fair and correct edition of these books printed beyond seas. … That any person or company should have patents for the sole printing of ancient authors is very unreasonable and injurious to learning; and for those who purchase copies from authors that now live and write, it may be reasonable to limit their property to a certain number of years after the death of the author, or the first printing of the book, as, suppose, fifty or seventy years. This I am sure, it is very absurd and ridiculous that any one now living should pretend to have a propriety in, or a power to dispose of the propriety of any copy or writings of authors who lived before printing was known in Europe.

from John Locke's Memorandum Concerning Renewal of Licensing Act (1694)

 

Commentary ...................................................................

John Locke’s response to the debate whether to renew the Licensing Act, with alterations, illuminates his specific beliefs on the legal issues relating to intellectual property. Where his Second Treatise on Government focused more on labor and property, this memorandum explains his views on how such a theory should be enacted through copyright law. While Locke responds negatively to the censorship situation surrounding the act, he appears more concerned with the difficulty in obtaining good versions of classical texts. He also advocates a specific term for the right to copy in suggesting a limit of somewhere between 50 and 70 years for monopoly rights for living authors and makes a powerful gesture for an intellectual commons in stating that “it is very absurd and ridiculous that any one now living should pretend to have a propriety in, or a power to dispose of the propriety of any copy or writings of authors who lived before printing was known in Europe.” The classical authors, Locke argues, should be free for all to copy, though modern authors should have control over their intellectual property. Locke’s opinions were very influential again, as we can see the same logic reproduced in both the 1710 Statute of Anne and in the 1790 American Copyright Act.

Statute of Anne (1710) .................................................

Whereas printers Booksellers and other persons have of late frequently taken the liberty of printing reprinting and publishing or causing to be printed reprinted and published Books and other writings without the consent of the authors or proprietors of such books and writings to their very great detriment and too often to the Ruin of them and their families For preventing therefore such practices for the future and for the encouragement of learned men to compose and write useful books May it please Your Majestie that it may be enacted And be it Enacted by the Queens Most Excellent Majestie by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same That from and after the tenth day of April One thousand seven hundred and ten the Author of any Book or books already printed who hath not transferred to any other the copy or copies of such Book or Books share or shares thereof or the Bookseller or Booksellers printer or printers or other person or persons who hath or have purchased or acquired the copy or copies of any Book or Books in order to print or reprint the same shall have the sole right and liberty of printing such Book and Books for the term of One and twenty years to commence from the said tenth day of April and no longer And that the Author of any Book or Books already composed and not printed and published or that shall hereafter be composed and his assignee or assignes shall have the sole liberty of printing and reprinting such Book and Books for the term of fourteen years to commence from the day of the first publishing the same, and no longer

That if any Bookseller or Booksellers printer or printers shall after the said Five and twentieth day of March One thousand Seven hundred and ten set a price upon or sell or expose to sale any Book or Books at such a price or rate as shall be conceived by any person or persons to be too high and unreasonable It shall and may be Lawful for any person or persons to make Complaint thereof to the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury … shall and have hereby full power and authority from time to time to send for summon or call before him or them such Bookseller or Booksellers printer or printers and to Examine and Enquire of the reason of the dearness and enhancement of the price or value of such book or books by him or them so sold or exposed to sale And if upon such enquiry and Examination it shall be found That the price of such book or books is inhanced or any wise to high or unreasonable Then and in such case the said Archbishop of Canterbury … have hereby full power and authority to reform and redress the same and to limit and settle the price of every such printed book and books from time to time according to the best of their judgments

from Statute of Anne (1710)

 

Commentary ...............................................................

Unlike the Licensing Act of 1662, which primarily concerned censorship, the Statute of Anne focused on economic issues related to the printing industry and established a copyright law that struck a balance between utilitarian values and individual rights regarding the products of labor. The statute gives exclusive rights to the authors, and not the printers, as did the Licensing Act of 1662. For books not yet printed or published, authors had a period of 14 years to profit from their work, and could extend their right for a further 14 years if they were still alive. Books that were already in print had a single 21-year monopoly right. The document shows concern for authors and their families, but largely in the context of authors’ limited right to make a profit from their labor. The utilitarian aspects of this law are also significant, because it allows the government to intervene on behalf of citizens who believe that a printer is abusing his monopoly right and setting too high a price of a particular text. Though this legislation falls short of the 50 and 70 year benchmarks that Locke advised, it represents a commitment of the law to authors' rights to profit from their intellectual labor and, significantly, transfers rights previously accorded to physical property to intellectual property as well.