This is a freely-accessible, publicly-funded digital archive that collects together significant documents relating to the history of copyright law and practice. The documents have been selected by national editors, with the input of an editorial advisory board. Key documents are, where appropriate, transcribed and translated. The editors have written commentaries, explaining the reasons for selecting documents and their significance. The project was launched in 2008, initially funded by the AHRC in relation to 5 countries. Since 2024 it is supported by the AHRC as UK research infrastructure. The archive now extends to more than 20 (including historical and religious) jurisdictions and over 700 primary source documents. They can be browsed by date/language/jurisdiction, or searched.
1556 (1555 m.v.)* | Privilege Granted to Antonio Floriano (Italy) |
1556* | Privilege Granted to Giovanni Ostaus (Italy) |
1657 | Preface to Silesius's Chant Book (Germany) |
1777* | Linguet's memorandum (France) Commentary: [1] |
1781* | Andrew Law's Petition (United States) Commentary: [1] |
1814* | Court of Cassation on compilations (France) Commentary: [1] |
1821* | Hegel: Remarks on Intellectual Property (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1828* | Maugham's Treatise (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1828 | Letter from Peters to Donaldson (United States) |
1837* | Prussian Copyright Act (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1840 | Copyright Bill (United Kingdom) |
1842 | Parliamentary Debates on the Copyright Act (9 May) (United Kingdom) |
1844* | Saxon Copyright Act (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1845* | Court of Appeal on translations (France) Commentary: [1] |
1846 | Expert Opinion on Schelling v. Paulus (Germany) |
1846* | Austrian Copyright Act (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1853* | Bluntschli: On Authors' Rights (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1857* | Wächter: 'Publishing Right' (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1869* | Court of Cassation on originality (France) |
1870* | Copyright Act for the German Empire (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1870* | Copinger's Law of Copyright (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1879* | Copyright Act (Spain) Commentary: [1] |
1884 | Bilateral treaty between Switzerland and France (Germany) |
1891 | 50 Prussian Expert Opinions from 1870-1876 (Germany) |