The Copyright Wars The Copyright Wars Three CenTuries of Trans- aTlanTiC BaTTle Peter Baldwin P r i n Ce To n u n ive r s iTy P r e s s P r i n C e To n a n d ox fo r d Copyright © 2014 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW press.princeton.edu Jacket design by Leslie Flis All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Baldwin, Peter, 1956– author. The copyright wars : three centuries of trans-Atlantic battle / Peter Baldwin. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-691-16182-2 (alk. paper) 1. Copyright—Europe—History. 2. Copyright—United States—History. I. Title. K1420.5.B359 2014 346.404′82–dc23 2013049603 British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Sabon Next LT Pro and Scala Sans OT display Printed on acid- free paper. ∞ Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Tom Jemima Daniel Sam Sigi Lucy Ben the next generation of my unexpected family Contents Introduction: The Agon of Author and Audience 1 1. The Battle between Anglo- American Copyright and European Authors’ Rights 14 2. From Royal Privilege to Literary Property: A Common Start to Copyright in the Eighteenth Century 53 3. The Ways Part: Copyright and Authors’ Rights in the Nineteenth Century 82 4. Continental Drift: Europe Moves from Property to Personality at the Turn of the Century 126 5. The Strange Birth of Moral Rights in Fascist Europe 163 6. The Postwar Apotheosis of Authors’ Rights 199 7. America Turns European: The Battle of the Booksellers Redux in the 1990s 262 8. The Rise of the Digital Public: The Copyright Wars Continue in the New Millennium 318 Conclusion: Reclaiming the Spirit of Copyright 383 Acknowledgments 411 Notes 413 Index 513 The Copyright Wars