[Upd-discuss] Christian Engstrom on Copyright Law and Online Freedom

[Michael S. Hart]

On Thu, 9 Jul 2009, Richard Stallman wrote:

>     No. . .think about why Queen Anne was the only monarch weak enough
>     to give The Stationers their proposed copyright after 250 years of
>     this not happening.
>
> Wasn't the Stationers' Guild's monopoly ENDED by the Statute of Anne?


The Stationers' Guild's monopoly was ended by The Gutenberg Press.

The Stationers immediately began lobbying for a "royal patent" via
which they hoped to regain their monopoly by declaring all others'
rights to publish [pretty much anything and everything] illegal.

No, I'm not kidding, it's really disgustingly ugly of you read the
actual histories of what took place.

All the kings and queens for 250 years, including Cromwell, of all
people, refused to give the Stationers any kind of deal, so books,
and other forms of publishing took off via Gutenberg presses.

Anne, feeling she needed to stop commentaries on her reign, gave a
go ahead for what became the first real Western copyright.  A few,
very few, had been tried, but failed, both because no one obeyed &
also because no one enforced what were so obviously bad laws.

Might I suggest an hour of reading up on this???


Thanks!!!


Michael S. Hart
Founder
Project Gutenberg
Inventor of ebooks


Recommended Books:

Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury:  For The Right Brain
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand:  For The Left Brain [or both]
Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson:  To Understand The Internet
The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster:  Lesson of Life. . .

If you ever do not get a prompt response, please resend, then
keep resending, I won't mind getting several copies per week.