Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900)
Identifier: d_1867a
Commentary on the Bavarian Copyright Act of 1865
Friedemann Kawohl
Centre for Intellectual Property Policy & Management, Bournemouth University, UK
Please cite as:
Kawohl, F. (2008) ‘Commentary on the Bavarian Copyright Act of 1865', in Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
1. Full title
2. Abstract
3. References
1. Full title
The Law of 28 June 1865 to protect author's rights in literary products and works of art, explained by Gustav Mandry. Published as part of the series Legislation in Bavaria since Maximilian II
2. Abstract
The Bavarian Copyright Act of 1865 was, as Elmar Wadle has put it, one of the most advanced pieces of copyright legislation of its time.[1] It was based on the so- called Frankfurt draft[2] that had been discussed and worked out between October 1863 and May 1864 by a commission of experts under the guidance of the Austrian councillor and composer Johann Vesque von Püttlingen (1803-1883),[3] and was meant to be presented as a bill for a harmonised copyright statute that would cover the whole German Confederation. However, when the draft was eventually submitted to the Federal Assembly in 1864, the antagonism between Prussia and Austria had aggravated even further, and so the draft was turned down by the Assembly.
Soon afterwards, though, the draft was presented to the Bavarian legislators. Some changes had to be made to the draft, so that it would be in line with the protection standards recently established by the Franco-Bavarian treaty of 24 March 1865.[4]
The Bavarian Copyright Act was promulgated on 28 June 1865, so as to come into force on 1 July 1865. The commentary by the Tübingen professor Gustav Mandry (1832-1902) begins with a long introduction that provides a historical overview of copyright in Germany in general (53-68), of the discussions and preparations undertaken for the Bavarian Copyright Act, and the relationship between the provisions of this statute and the basic principles of copyright in general (83-99). The main part (101-444) then comments on the Statute in detail, section by section.
3. References
Books and articles [in alphabetical order]
"Entwurf eines Gesetzes zum Schutz der Urheberrechte an literarischen Erzeugnissen und Werken der Kunst" [ the "Frankfurt draft"], Kritische Vierteljahresschrift für Gesetzgebung und Rechtswissenschaft, 7 (1865): 314ff. Available online at:
Mandry, Gustav. "Der Entwurf eines gemeinsamen deutschen Nachdrucksgesetzes", Kritische Vierteljahresschrift für Gesetzgebung und Rechtswissenschaft, 7 (1865): Part I, 1ff., available online at: and Part II, 241ff., available online at:
Mandry, Gustav. Gesetz vom 28. Juni 1865 zum Schutze der Urheberrechte an literarischen Erzeugnissen und Werken der Kunst (Erlangen: Palm & Enke, 1867)
Wadle, Elmar. Geistiges Eigentum I (Weinheim: VCH, 1996)
[1] Elmar Wadle, Geistiges Eigentum I (Weinheim: VCH, 1996) 325.
[2] The Frankfurt draft was published in Kritische Vierteljahresschrift für Gesetzgebung und Rechtswissenschaft, 7 (1865): 314ff. Available online at and commented on by Mandry in the same volume Der Entwurf eines gemeinsamen deutschen Nachdrucksgesetzes: (p.1) and (p.241ff.).
[3] Gustav Mandry, Gesetz vom 28. Juni 1865 zum Schutze der Urheberrechte an literarischen Erzeugnissen und Werken der Kunst (Erlangen: Palm & Enke, 1867), 75.
[4] Ibid., 77.