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Apr 2025
11m 43s

The Birth of Copyright

The Retrospectors
About this episode
The foundations of modern copyright law were laid on 10th April 1710, when the Statute of Anne came into effect. Before the Act, anyone could copy and sell books without giving a penny to the author; now, writers would be protected from being completely exploited by (British) publishers for an initial period of 14 years. Writers like Jonathan Swift and Danie ... Show More
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Today
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Yesterday
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