2.5 LET US SUM UP
The origins of copyright may be traced to England, and the Licensing of the Press Act, 1662; passed by Charles II after concern over the unregulated copying of books. This legislation required copies of books to be deposited with the Stationers’ Company and established a register for licensed books. Some other believe that such a legislation was not concern over the unregulated copying of books, but was to control the amount of printed matter in circulation, i.e., censorship. The first copyright act was the Statute of Anne, 1710, of the Parliament of Great Britain. This legislation granted publishers rights over the work in question for a fixed period of time. In this unit we studies various international legal instruments related to copyrights that provides various components of the same, sued in different ways in different geographical entities. While authors’ moral rights over the work and rights to trade the work are common, the number of years for which the copyright is allowed differs. Some countries allow copyrights up to 50 years after the death of the authors, while others allow up to 70 years. Copyright laws allow fair use or fair dealing for private use and for educational purposes. We also learned that ideas are not copyrighted, but the expression of ideas is copyrighted. In the next unit, we will discuss the system to help authors and creators share their work through a system of legal licensing system.