Phandrens

Copyright is a legal device to protect the creator of a work from having that work copied and devalued without his permission. The definition is: The exclusive legal right to (publish, distribute, sell, perform) a literary, musical or artistic property. There was no need for copyright before the printing press, because the only way to copy anything was by hand, and the process was slow. If you wanted a copy of the Bible, you hired a scribe, who would then work for three years making an (error prone) copy. The cost was high, and the results were in themselves an original work of art. Early Copyright The republic of Venice granted the first privilege for a book in 1486. The first copyright privilege in England bears the date 1518, it was for two years. It was 15 years later than that of the first privileges issued in France. in April 1710 In Great Britain the Statute of Anne marked the world's first copyright statute. It granted publishers of a book legal protection of 14 years