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.
1469* | Johannes of Speyer's Printing Monopoly (Italy) Commentary: [1] |
1498* | Ottaviano Petrucci's Music Patent (Italy) Commentary: [1] |
1504* | Privilege Granted to Benedetto Bordon (Italy) |
1531* | Basel Printers' Statute (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1546* | Privilege Granted to Enea Vico (Parmigiano) (Italy) |
1552* | General privilege granted to Adrien Le Roy and Robert Ballard (France) Commentary: [1] |
1556 (1555 m.v.)* | Privilege Granted to Antonio Floriano (Italy) |
1556* | Privilege Granted to Giovanni Ostaus (Italy) |
1557* | Stationers' Charter (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1559* | Privilege for printing music for the Indies (Spain) Commentary: [1] |
1559* | Pérez v. Fernández de Córdoba (Spain) |
1586* | Simon Marion's plea on privileges (France) Commentary: [1] |
1586* | Star Chamber Decree (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1624* | Statute of Monopolies (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1643* | Establishment of the First Printing House in Norway (Scandinavia) |
1662* | Licensing Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1690* | Locke's Second Treatise on Government (selected extracts) (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1725-1726* | Pierre-Jacques Blondel's memorandum (France) Commentary: [1] |
1738* | Thurneysen: On the Illicit Reprinting of Books (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1740* | Encyclopaedia Article on 'The Reprinting of Books' (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1744* | Code de la Librairie (France) Commentary: [1] |
1761* | La Fontaine case (France) Commentary: [1] |
1762* | Royal declaration on privileges granted to inventors (France) Commentary: [1] |
1763* | Diderot's Letter on the book trade (France) Commentary: [1] |
1775* | Stationers' Company v. Carnan (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1776* | Gaultier's memorandum for the provincial booksellers (France) Commentary: [1] |
1777* | French Decree of 30 August 1777, on the duration of privileges (France) Commentary: [1] |
1777* | Linguet's memorandum (France) Commentary: [1] |
1778* | Pluquet's letters (France) Commentary: [1] |
1781* | 'Pezzana e Consorti' case: counter-petition and rulings (Italy) |
1790* | J.F.F. Ganz's draft for a general ban on reprinting within the whole Empire (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1790* | Copyright Act (United States) Commentary: [1] |
1791* | Le Chapelier's report (France) Commentary: [1] |
1815* | Annotated Publishers' Petition to the Congress of Vienna (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1826* | Minutes of the 1825-1826 Commission (France) |
1834* | Privilege to the Royal Lithographic Establishment (Spain) |
1838* | Remarks on Literary Property (Spain) |
1841* | Report of Lamartine and parliamentary debates on literary property (France) |
1853* | Bluntschli: On Authors' Rights (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1859* | Casado's PhD on Copyright (Spain) |
1868* | Proudhon: 'Les Majorats littéraires' (France) |
1869* | Court of Cassation on originality (France) |
1878* | Morillot on the author's right (France) |
1880* | Kohler: Author's Right (Germany) Commentary: [1] |