We are delighted to announce a forthcoming copyright history conference to take place in Glasgow on 16 and 17 October 2023: a celebration of fifteen years of Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), the (AHRC funded) digital archive edited by Lionel Bently and Martin Kretschmer. Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) was launched in 2008, with a conference at Stationers’ Hall, London, and it originally comprised five national sections – Great Britain, France, German speaking countries, France and USA – each curated by a specialist national editor. The stated aim of the project was to make available primary source material that (i) opened up alternative interpretations of copyright history, (ii) illustrated the interaction of copyright with commercial and/or aesthetic developments, and (iii) evidenced influences across jurisdictions. Fifteen years later, the digital archive now spans a total of ten jurisdictions – also, the Netherlands, Spain, Jewish sources, Portugal/Brazil and the Vatican – with a further section, Scandinavia, in progress.
At the event this October, to be held in the University of Glasgow’s Advanced Research Centre on a hybrid basis (allowing for online or in person attendance), we will be charting the development of the digital archive, launching new material and looking to the future. We are delighted that the event is also supported by the International Society for the Theory and History of Intellectual Property, that was also formed at the 2008 Stationers’ Hall conference.
The full programme for the Glasgow conference this October is below, but it comprises two key elements. First, a number of national editors will present their new material for the digital archive. Patricia Akester (GPI-IPO) and Victor Drummond (Universidade Gama Filho) will launch their section covering Portugal and Brazil, Marius Buning (University of Oslo), Magne Klasson (University of Oslo) and Martin Fredriksson (Linköping University) will speak about the forthcoming Scandinavian section, and further material for three existing sections – the Vatican, France and German speaking countries – will be presented by Jane Ginsburg (Columbia Law School), Katie Scott (The Courtauld), Frédéric Rideau (Université de Poitiers) and Friedemann Kawohl (CREATe Fellow).
Secondly, in the evening of Monday 16th October, we will be hosting an event that is open to the public, and also forms part of the CREATe Public Lectures series: Lionel Bently and Martin Kretschmer, accompanied by a panel of national editors, will discuss ‘Fifteen Years of Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900): Changing world views and what comes next’. Everyone is welcome to join, either in person or on-line. To attend the Public Lecture on Monday 16 Oct, please register via our Bookitbee here.
French Decree on the duration of privileges 1777 (f_1777a)
Programme: Celebrating Fifteen Years of Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900)
Hybrid event, held at the Advanced Research Centre, University of Glasgow.
Monday 16th October
10am – 10.30am: arrival/coffee.
10.30am – 11.30am: Patricia Akester and Victor Drummond: Launch of Portugal and Brazil: Privileges granted to Gonçalo de Baena and Baltasar Dias (1536-7) and the copyright dispute between Almeida Garrett and Alexandre Herculano (1873-1908).
11.30pm – 12.30pm: Marius Buning, Magne Klasson and Martin Fredriksson: Scandinavia: Privilege granted to Bishop Theodorus Thorlacius to print histories and antiquarian works in Iceland (1688) and Sweden’s Freedom of the Press Act (1841).
12.30pm – 1.30pm: lunch
1.30pm – 2.30pm: Closed session: training demonstration of new Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) content management system led by Bartolomeo Meletti, CREATe, showcasing the Scandinavian section, for editors, national editors and limited invited audience only.
2.30pm – 3.30pm: Jane Ginsburg: New Vatican material: Privilege granted to Tommaso Pighinucci for publishing Medicina Plinea (1509) and Petition of and Privilege to Orazio Torsellini for his History of the House of Loreto (1598).
3.30pm – 4pm: coffee break.
4pm – 5pm: Closed session: discussion by national editors and invited attendees only on possible future directions for Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), chaired by Elena Cooper, CREATe.
5.30pm – 7pm: CREATe Public Lecture and reception: Fifteen Years of Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900): changing world views and what comes next
Welcome by Professor Claire McDiarmid, Head of the School of Law, University of Glasgow
Lionel Bently and Martin Kretschmer, in discussion with a panel of national editors including Patricia Akester, Jose Bellido, Marius Buning, Elena Cooper, Victor Drummond, Joanna Kostylo, Magne Klasson, Jane Ginsburg, Friedemann Kawohl, Frédéric Rideau, Katie Scott and Stef van Gompel.
Tuesday 17th October
9.30am – 10am: arrival/coffee
10am – 11.15am: New material for France: Katie Scott: Francesco Pellegrion ‘The Flower of the Science of Portraiture’ (1530), Charles Le Brun ‘Royal Privilege’ (1656), Petition by the Printmakers and Proprietors of Copperplates to the National Assembly (1791) and Petition by Citizen Plaster-casters to the National Court (1794); and Frédéric Rideau: French Decree on the Duration of Privileges (1777).
11.15am – 11.45am: Friedemann Kawohl: New material for Germany: The Juridical Nature of Authors’ Rights by Carl Gareis (1877) with reference to Johannes Brahms’ diverging concept of authorship, and Fürstenthal v. Hirschfeld (1840).
11.45am-12pm: Amy Thomas: New material for Scotland (UK): Letter to George Thomson from Robert Burns incorporating a manuscript of Auld Lang Syne (1793).
12.00pm – closing
