Volume 9 Issue 1

The role of history in copyright dilemmas

Louise Goebel*

Striking a balance between property rights and access to information with respect to new technologies is the aim in any copyright policy debate. These public and private interests are underwritten by the way in which they are understood as a historical process. Traditionally, a privileged role has been attributed to the stationers’ copyright system which was consequently translated to the legislative and common law sphere in the guise of the property rights of the authors.

This paper explores the history of copyright in order to illustrate the need to define copyright and its application to new technologies. The dichotomy between private property and the public domain is firstly explored, followed by a discussion of the eighteenth century literary property debates. The historical creation of monopolies is presented and criticised. Finally, an examination of the ‘interests’ in the book trade is made followed by a critique of print regulation machinery.