The History and Background of American Copyright Law: An Overview

Copyright is a monopoly conferred upon authors or creators of literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works to produce, reproduce, adapt, or perform their works for a limited time. The Copyright Law, by conferring this monopoly upon authors and their assignees, provides an economic incentive “to those with the requisite ability to create intellectual property” and to “publishers, recording firms, and similar enterprises to package and distribute these intellectual creations to the general public.” Prior to the invention of the printing press the possibility of commercial gain from the production of intellectual property was severely limited by the drudgery involved in manual copying of manuscripts, which work was performed by slaves in ancient times and monks under a vow of obedience later. Private patrons and universities provided the only economic incentive to authors to produce intellectual property and the book trade was small. Although both law and literature existed in abundance in ancient and medieval Europe, Copyright Law was unknown.