# Primary Sources on Copyright - Record Viewer
Casado's PhD on Copyright , Madrid (1859)

Source: Biblioteca de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid; D 51302

Citation:
Casado's PhD on Copyright , Madrid (1859), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

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            Chapter 1 Page 12 of 13 total

                                    13
            
            prevents prevents someone else from working
            on the same industry, science or art, which
            does not happen here; thus, however much you
            discover something, and it is respected by
            the protection legally given, it does not
            deprive anybody from working on the same
            thing: in whatever case, what would be
            forbidden shall be the appropriation of
            something that already has an owner, and
            nobody will be able to say that this is neither
            suitable nor just. Neither can we agree that
            society loses, because the inventor will try
            to gain the maximum profit from his labour,
            placing his invention within the reach of
            most consumers, because if such a just right
            is restricted and limited, he himself and others
            who are in the same situation will be discouraged
            and will leave this profession; and I consider
            this, Your Excellency, to be of supreme interest
            because: what would be of humanity if it always
            remains in a stationary condition? Without loosing
            the perspective that education is one, and perhaps
            the strongest element upon which mankind rests, and
            the aspect that contributes most to the happiness of
            a nation. Let us look at the criminal statistics for a second,
            and we shall notably be convinced of this bitter truth. As the
            opponents are dissatisfied, they go even further and say:
            If perpetuity is granted, it is highly possible that inventions
            will be lost


    

                                    13
            
            legal impide el que otro cualquiera se dedique á la
            misma industria, ciencia ó arte, lo que no sucede
            aquí; pues, por más que uno haya descubierto una
            cosa, y esta se le respete con la garantía de la ley,
            no priva á nadie que se pueda dedicar á la misma:
            en todo caso lo que se le prohibirá será el que se
            apropie lo que ya tiene dueño; y á nadie se le ocur-
            rirá decir que esto no es conveniente ni justo. Tam-
            poco podemos convenir en que la sociedad pierda
            en ello, ya porque el inventor procurará sacar el
            mayor producto posible de su trabajo, poniendo su
            obra al alcance de la mayoría de los consumidores,
            ya porque si se le restringe y coharta un derecho
            tan justo, él mismo y los demas que se encuentren
            en igual caso caerán en el desaliento, y abandona-
            rán esta profesion; y esto, Excmo. Señor, lo consi-
            dero de sumo interes, porque, ¿Qué seria de la hu-
            manidad si siempre permaneciera en un estado es-
            tacionario? Sin que se pueda perder de vista que
            la educación es uno, y acaso el más fuerte, elemento
            sobre el que descansa el género humano, y el que
            más contribuye á la felicidad de una nacion. Re-
            córrase por un instante la estadística de los crimi-
            nales, y de una manera palpable nos convenceremos
             de esta amarga verdad. No satisfechos los impug-
            nadores, van más adelante, y dicen: Si se concede la
            perpetuidad, es muy posible se pierdan las obras

    

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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