Statute of Anne: Authors Gain Copyright for the First Time
The Statute of Anne, enacted on April 10, 1710, was the world's first copyright law, transferring control of printed works from the Stationers' Company guild to the authors who wrote them. Previously, the Crown granted monopoly printing rights to the guild, which had no obligation to compensate writers. The new law gave authors a 14-year copyright term, renewable once for another 14 years, after which works entered the public domain. The statute established two principles that still underpin copyright law: that creators have a natural right to benefit from their work, and that this right must eventually expire so knowledge can be freely shared. The concept of public domain, now fundamental to open-source software and Creative Commons, began here.
April 10, 1710
316 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on April 10
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