Publisher Description

This volume reproduces writings, social teachings, testimonies and reports of figures as diverse as Karl Marx, Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, and bodies such as the US Congress. Extracted material charts the development of an international system of copyright regulation, and the growth, in the 20th century, of copyright industries benefitting from new copyright laws. In the second half of the 19th century, many writers and thinkers, like Marx, attacked capital, and its corollary, property rights. Some writers, such as Victor Hugo, while exposing the horrors of poverty and social alienation, demanded for authors rights of property. The modern system of copyright substantially originates from the efforts of Hugo and others. Articles by leading US copyright scholars such as Jessica Litman and Tim Wu explain the development of copyright law in the 20th century, and are complemented by reproduction of key copyright cases in the US and UK, as well the primary copyright legislation in those countries. Contributors examine critically whether copyright law in the 20th century developed to encourage information dissemination or enable producers to control the supply of information for super profit.

Author Biography

Benedict Atkinson is Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Australia and Brian Fitzgerald is Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation, School of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Pope Leo XIII, Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, James Dundas White, William Boosey, John Murray, G. Bernard Shaw, Charles V. Standford, J. Drummond Robertson, H. Whorlow, Sir Louis Mallet, Jessica Litman, Timothy Wu, Lydia Pallas Loren, Robert Spoo.

Table of Contents

Contents: Introduction: internationalization, technology and the march of property; Part I Literary Landmarks in the 19th Century Debate Over Property: Manifesto of the Communist Party 1848, Parts I and II, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels; Effects in the bank, Charles Dickens; Address of Victor Hugo to the International Literary Congress, Paris, 17 June 1878, Victor Hugo; Rerum Novarum: Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Capital and Labor, St Peter's, Rome, 1891, Pope Leo XIII ; The White Man's Burden, Rudyard Kipling. Part II Mark Twain on Copyright: Statement of Mr Samuel L. Clemens (1906); Mark Twain, lobbyist. He cuts loose from artists and musicians on Copyright Bill (1906); Remarks on copyright (1886 and 1900); Mark Twain and his book: The Humorist and the copyright question (1889); Mark Twain on copyright law (1883); Aphorism in notebooks (1902-1903); Concerning copyright. An open letter to the Register of Copyrights (1905). Part III The Compulsory Recording Licence (UK): Correspondence to the Editor of The Times (1911-1949): The Copyright Bill, James Dundas White; The Copyright Bill. Attitude of the Labour Party, William Boosey; The Copyright Bill. A reply to Mr Boosey, J. Drummond Robertson; Mr John Murray's views, John Murray; The Copyright Bill. Composes and compensation, G. Bernard Shaw; The Copyright Bill. Musical and mechanical instruments, Charles V. Standford; The gramophone and its claims, William Boosey; Copyright Bill. The 'phonographic industry', J. Drummond Robertson; Copyright a privilege conferred, H. Whorlow; Composers and their property. The new Copyright Bill, G. Bernard Shaw; The author's gamble. Mr Bernard Shaw on Taxation, G. Bernard Shaw. Part IV Government and Diplomatic Documents: Report of the Royal Commission on Copyright 1878; Separate report by Sir Louis Mallet, 1878; Berne Convention (1886), Convention Creating an International Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, as amended at Berlin Conference, November 13, 1

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