Primary Sources on Copyright

PRIMARY SOURCES

ON COPYRIGHT

(1450-1900)

Stationers Charter (1684) - Read more

Privilege of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, Würzburg (1479) - Read more

Rabbinic Reprinting Ban for Eliyahu Bakhur, Rome (1518) - Read more

Petition from and Privilege granted to Antonio Tempesta for a map of Rome (1593) - Read more

Documents concerning the Models and Busts Act, London (1799) - Read more

Oscar Wilde photograph, New York (1882) - Read more

Bleistein: Cartoon, Chicago (1903) - Read more

Johannes of Speyer's Printing Monopoly, Venice (1469) - Read more

Treaty of Peace between the United States and Spain, Madrid (1898) - Read more

French Literary and Artistic Property Act, Paris (1793) - Read more

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Stowe v. Thomas, Pennsylvania (1853)

Source: The University of Texas Tarlton Law Library Stack 216: Stowe v. Thomas, 23 F. Cas. 201 (C.C.E.D. Pa. 1853).

Citation:
Stowe v. Thomas, Pennsylvania (1853), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]

Record-ID: us_1853b

Permanent link: https://copyrighthistory.org/cam/tools/request/showRecord.php?id=record_us_1853b

Full title:
Stowe v. Thomas, 23 F. Cas. 201 (C.C.E.D.Pa. 1853)

Full title original language:
N/A

Abstract:
A case decided by Justice Robert Grier. The case involved a claim of copyright infringement by Harriet Beecher Stowe against a publisher of an unauthorized German translation of her book 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'. The court decided that a translation was not a copy of the original and therefore did not infringe copyright. The decision epitomized the traditional approach that conceptualized copyright protection in terms of the limited right to print copies. From this approach followed a narrow understanding of the scope of copyright protection and of the entitlements it included. When Stowe v. Thomas was decided, this traditional approach was in decline. It was superseded by a new understanding of copyright as the protection of an intellectual work, irrespective of the exact form or medium of reproduction. The transition was reflected in the fact that nineteenth century copyright commentators harshly criticized the Stowe v. Thomas decision and in the explicit legislative addition of the translation entitlement to copyright protection in 1870. The commentary discusses the case, the related doctrinal and conceptual changes in copyright law, and some of the economic and social context of these changes.

1 Commentary:
commentary_us_1853b

Bibliography:

Kaplan, Benjamin. An Unhurried View of Copyright. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967.
___. American Women Authors and Literary Property, 1822-1869. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Homestead, Melissa J. 'When I can Read my Title Clear': Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Stowe v. Thomas Copyright Infringement Case.' 27 Prospects 201 (2002).