PRIMARY SOURCES

ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)

Prussian Statute Book (ALR), Berlin (1794)

Source: Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart A18/725-2,2

Citation:
Prussian Statute Book (ALR), Berlin (1794), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Record-ID: d_1794

Permanent link: https://copyrighthistory.org/cam/tools/request/showRecord.php?id=record_d_1794

Full title:
Reprinting Provisions in the Prussian Statute Book, I 11 §§ 996-1036 and II 20 §§ 1294-1297

Full title original language:
Allgemeines Landrecht für die Preussischen Staaten

Abstract:
The Prussian Statute Book (ALR) of 1794 is the first body of legislation in the German lands to pronounce a general ban on reprinting without formalities. The ALR provisions based copyright on a publishing contract, entitling the publisher to sue for damages anyone undertaking a pirate edition. Publishers must, however, secure the authors' approval before publishing an amended edition, for which authors may enter into a contract with another publisher, as long as they buy up at wholesale prices any remaining copies of the first edition. Although the provisions were amended significantly in the Prussian Copyright Act of 1837 (d_1837a), the ALR remained effective as a legal framework until the German Civil Code (BGB) of 1900. This commentary looks at Prussian privilege practice and earlier copyright regulations, as well as at the discussions generated by the proposed copyright provisions in the ALR, and how these were amended. The ALR editors had originally envisaged substantially stronger rights for authors, but eventually the publisher Friedrich Nicolai's view on authorship as an ideally non-commercial activity helped to push through provisions favouring the publishers.

1 Commentary:
commentary_d_1794

Bibliography:
N/A

Related documents in this database:
N/A

Author: C. G. Svarez (1721-1801) and J. H. K. Graf von Carmer (1720-1801)

Publisher: Gottfried Carl Nauck

Year: 1794

Location: Berlin

Language: German

Source: Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart A18/725-2,2

Persons referred to:
Berger, Daniel
Frederick William II
Nauck, Gottfried Carl

Places referred to:
Berlin
Frankfurt
Leipzig

Cases referred to:
N/A

Institutions referred to:
Frankfurt fair
Leipzig fair

Legislation:
Prussian Statute Book 1794 (ALR)

Keywords:
Enlightenment, the
French Revolution
almanacs
author/publisher relations
authors' remuneration
authors, self-publishing
authorship, joint or collaborative
authorship, theory of
book fairs
book trade
books, protected subject matter
commissions
contract
contracts, regulation of
editions, new
engravings, protected subject matter
importation
maps, protected subject matter
music, protected subject matter
natural rights
penalties
piracy
privileges
privileges, German Imperial
privileges, Prussian
privileges, Saxon
property theory
property theory, publishers' property
reciprocity
royalty/royalties
scholarly writing
transferability
translations, of contemporary works
translations, protection of

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