Stowe v Thomas (1853) where the court argued that a German translation of Uncle’s Tom’s Cabins did not constitute copyright infringement (quoted from Meredith McGill’s excellent bookAmerican Literature and the Culture of Reprinting, 1834-1853:
“Before publication [the author] has the exclusive possession of his invention. His dominion is perfect. But when he has published his book and given his thoughts, sentiments, knowledge or discoveries to the world, he can have no longer an exclusive possession of them. Such an appropriation becomes impossible, and is inconsistent with the object of publication. The author’s conceptions have become common property of his readers, who cannot be deprived of the use of them, or their right to communicate them to others clothed in their own language, by lecture or by treatise”
Great excerpt! It’s so hard to imagine a court writing that today! I wonder how many other jurisprudential gems like that are waiting to be discovered?
“…or their right to communicate them to others clothed in their own language…”
That’s the no-copyright-censorship argument, right there, coming from a judge. Wow.
Comment by Karl Fogel — February 7, 2010 @ 2:29 pm
I think this stuff has been pretty well uncovered (Meredith McGill’s and Adrian John’s books are key in this regard). The harder part to understand are the massive massive reversals of these sentiments
Comment by Biella — February 7, 2010 @ 2:54 pm
Has this law been updated? I’m sure that they’ve moved on or made changes. Just look at what happened with Napster. The musicians and movie makers showed that by people downloading their music or movies, they were losing money. This argument got the judge to make downloading movies and music without paying for it illegal and now people can get fined and even go to jail.
Comment by Floral Joy — February 8, 2010 @ 8:15 am
[...] Seen via Planet Debian: this fascinating quote from a Pennsylvania court in 1853. Before publication [the author] has the exclusive possession of his invention. His dominion is perfect. But when he has published his book and given his thoughts, sentiments, knowledge or discoveries to the world, he can have no longer an exclusive possession of them. Such an appropriation becomes impossible, and is inconsistent with the object of publication. The author’s conceptions have become common property of his readers, who cannot be deprived of the use of them, or their right to communicate them to others clothed in their own language, by lecture or by treatise. [...]
Pingback by The Betacantrips Travelogue » Hard to imagine but it is our history — March 1, 2010 @ 11:27 am