PRIMARY SOURCES

ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)

Fichte: Proof of the Unlawfulness of Reprinting, Berlin (1793)

Source: Berlinische Monatschrift (1793), 443-482

Citation:
Fichte: Proof of the Unlawfulness of Reprinting, Berlin (1793), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Record-ID: d_1793

Permanent link: https://copyrighthistory.org/cam/tools/request/showRecord.php?id=record_d_1793

Full title:
Proof of the Unlawfulness of Reprinting: A Rationale and a Parable. In: Berlinische Monatschrift (1793), 443-482

Full title original language:
Beweis der Unrechtmäßigkeit des Büchernachdrucks. Ein Räsonnement und eine Parabel.

Abstract:
This article by the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814) is sometimes described as a foundational text of what is generally referred to as the distinction between idea and expression in copyright law. Fichte identifies the permanent feature of a book as 'the form of the thoughts', the result of a two-fold abstraction: the intellectual part is abstracted from the physical part; and, then, within this intellectual part 'the form of the thoughts' is abstracted from the ideas. Hence there are three types of property in a book. The physical book as a full property is completely at the owner's disposal. The ideas, after being shared with the public, become a common property of the author and his readers. But the abstract form necessarily remains the author's property, because it is 'physically impossible' for this to be appropriated by another person. The commentary focuses on the late eighteenth-century discussion that Fichte was contributing to and on the impact of Fichte's theory on nineteenth-century German copyright.

1 Commentary:
commentary_d_1793

Bibliography:
  • Woodmansee, Martha, 'The Genius and the Copyright: Economic and Legal Conditions of the Emergence of the 'Author'', 'Eighteenth Century Studies' 17, nr 4 (1984): 425-448

  • Kretschmer, Martin and Friedemann Kawohl, 'The History and Philosophy of Copyright', in Simon Frith and Lee Marshall (eds), 'Music and Copyright' (Edinburgh U.P., 2004), 21-53

  • Kretschmer, Martin and Friedemann Kawohl, 'Johann Gottlieb Fichte, and the trap of Inhalt (content) and form: An information perspective on music copyright', in 'Information, Communication & Society' (forthcoming)

  • Borghi, Maurizio, 'Owning Form, Sharing Content: Natural-Right Copyright and Digital Environment', in Fiona MacMillan (ed.), 'New Directions in Copyright Law' (Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham, 2007), 5: 197-222


Related documents in this database:
N/A

Author: Fichte, Johann Gottlieb (1762-1814)

Publisher: Haude and Spener

Year: 1793

Location: Berlin

Language: German

Source: Berlinische Monatschrift (1793), 443-482

Persons referred to:
Correggio, Antonio Allegri da
Fichte, Johann Gottlieb
Joseph II
Kant, Immanuel
Knigge, Adolph Baron von
Luther, Martin
Müller, Johann Gottwerth
Reimarus, Johann Albert Heinrich
Schmieder, Christian Gottlieb
Trattner, Johann Thomas von

Places referred to:
Itzehoe
Königsberg

Cases referred to:
N/A

Institutions referred to:
N/A

Legislation:
N/A

Keywords:
Bible, the
anthologies
attribute, obligation to
author/publisher relations
authors' remuneration
authorship, legal concept of
authorship, romantic concept of
authorship, theory of
contract
copying, concept of
editions, new
fraud
idea/expression
imitation
inventions
inventors
learning, the advancement of
libraries
natural rights
originality
piracy
plagiarism
privileges
property analogies
property theory, authors' property
public domain
public good
reprints
royalty/royalties
scholarly writing
scribal publication
transferability
translations, of classic works
unpublished works
utility

Responsible editor: Friedemann Kawohl


Copyright History resource developed in partnership with:

Our Partners

Copyright statement

You may copy and distribute the translations and commentaries in this resource, or parts of such translations and commentaries, in any medium, for non-commercial purposes as long as the authorship of the commentaries and translations is acknowledged, and you indicate the source as Bently & Kretschmer (eds), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) (www.copyrighthistory.org).

With the exception of commentaries that are available under a CC-BY licence (compliant with UKRI policy) you may not publish individual documents or parts of the database for any commercial purposes, including charging a fee for providing access to these documents via a network. This licence does not affect your statutory rights of fair dealing.

Although the original documents in this database are in the public domain, we are unable to grant you the right to reproduce or duplicate some of these documents in so far as the images or scans are protected by copyright or we have only been able to reproduce them here by giving contractual undertakings. For the status of any particular images, please consult the information relating to copyright in the bibliographic records.

Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) is co-published by Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, 10 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DZ, UK and CREATe, School of Law, University of Glasgow, 10 The Square, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK