Invention of Copyright

Unfortunately, Authors and Owners induced unpleasant flashbacks to an eighteenth-century literature course I took as an undergraduate. When I read about Alexander Pope struggling to suppress pirate editions of The Dunciad, I would get distracted remembering how much I hated that poetic work (and I didn’t even have to read the whole thing). I had the same reaction to mentions of James Boswell and Samuel Johnson; I have read Boswell’s Life of Johnson and I don’t remember anything about copyright. All in all, it is a semester of my life that I would rather forget.

Anyways…it was useful to read about the invention of copyright because struggles over authorship, fair use, etc. continue today. I thought the discussion in the last chapter about privacy vs. property was particularly interesting. The move to discuss copyright within the framework to a right to privacy is problematic, because the right to privacy does not exist in the Constitution (at least in the United States). The “right” to privacy is completely based on judicial precedent; it has no basis in the written law.

The discussion about the writer “fathering” his text raises some questions. I am going to have to dig out my Gilbert and Gubar to study this further and articulate a response.