1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:13,120 Speaker 1: show for those interested in the big and small moments 4 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:17,959 Speaker 1: of history. I'm Gabe Lucier, and today we're talking about 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 1: the history of US copyright law, including why the founders 6 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: considered it so vital to the nation's growth that they 7 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:34,239 Speaker 1: enacted it even before the right to free speech. The 8 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:39,879 Speaker 1: day was May thirty first, seventeen ninety. The first US 9 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: federal copyright law was signed into effect by President George Washington. 10 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: Known as the Copyright Act of seventeen ninety, it granted 11 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: American authors the exclusive right to copy, that is, to 12 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: publish and reprint their original works for a period of 13 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: fourteen years. It also gave them the option to renew 14 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 1: for another fourteen years, provided the author was still alive. 15 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 1: The statute was only half a page in length, but 16 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 1: the legal framework it established for the creation of original 17 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: works has lasted, with some adjustments, for more than two 18 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: hundred and thirty years and counting. The Act of seventeen 19 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: ninety was the first copyright law enacted under the new 20 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: US Constitution, but the issue of copyright law had been 21 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: on Americans minds for a long time. Before then, England 22 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: had never bothered to institute copyright protections for its colonies, 23 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: believing that the largely agrarian colonists would never need to 24 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: print anything besides government materials. As you might expect, many 25 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: colonists were insulted by that narrow view of their creative potential, 26 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: a grievance they did not forget after taking up arms 27 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: during the American Revolution. When the war ended, most of 28 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: the newly formed states quickly passed their own copyright laws. 29 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: The intent was the same in every case, but the 30 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: scope of rights protected and the means of securing them 31 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: differed widely from state to state. The framers of the 32 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: US Constitution knew the country would eventually need a more 33 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: streamlined solution, so to cover their bases, they included Article I, 34 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:25,120 Speaker 1: Section eight, Clause eight of the Constitution. It says, quote, 35 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: the Congress shall have power to promote the progress of 36 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: science and useful arts by securing, for limited times to 37 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:37,799 Speaker 1: authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings 38 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: and discoveries. A few years later, the first Federal Congress 39 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: put that provision to use by passing both the Patent 40 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: Act and the Copyright Act of seventeen ninety. President Washington 41 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:54,239 Speaker 1: happily signed them both into law, having called for such 42 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: legislation himself during his first State of the Union address 43 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: earlier that year. Timeline gives you a sense of the 44 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: importance lawmakers placed on the need for federal copyright law. 45 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: The issue was considered so crucial that Congress tackled it 46 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,359 Speaker 1: during its second session and the President signed it into 47 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: law during its first year in office, before the First 48 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: Amendment and the Bill of Rights were even ratified. Congress's 49 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: goal was to create a single federal standard for copyright protections, 50 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: one that would supersede the many state level statutes that 51 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:33,399 Speaker 1: were often at odds with one another. Congress modeled its 52 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: Copyright Act on Britain's Statute of Ann, a law from 53 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: seventeen ten, which had been enacted to address the concerns 54 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: of booksellers and publishers. The pioneering law outlined the basic 55 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: principles of author's ownership of copyright and a fixed term 56 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: of protection for copyrighted works. The US Congress deviated very 57 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: little from the Statute of Anne, adapting both its fourteen 58 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: year terms and its limited scope applying only to books charts, 59 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: and maps. In order to secure a copyright for one 60 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: of those three works, the author had to provide a 61 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: copy to the clerk of their local district court and 62 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:16,719 Speaker 1: send another copy to the U. S. Secretary of State 63 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: within six months of the work's publication. Once a copyright 64 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,080 Speaker 1: was granted, anyone caught violating it was subject to a 65 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:29,279 Speaker 1: fine of fifty cents per printed page found in their possession. 66 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,839 Speaker 1: The first copyright under the law was granted on June ninth, 67 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety, just ten days after the law's enactment. It 68 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: was awarded to John Berry's Philadelphia Spelling Book, which the 69 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 1: author registered in the U. S. District Court of Pennsylvania. 70 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: It was fitting that a spelling book should earn the 71 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:53,480 Speaker 1: first US copyright, as teacher and education reformer Noah Webster 72 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,599 Speaker 1: had long lobbied for copyright protection for his own spelling book, 73 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:02,160 Speaker 1: The Famous Blue Backed Speller. The wording of the seventeen 74 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: ninety Copyright Act reveals a lot about the intentions behind it. 75 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,839 Speaker 1: For instance, it's referred to as quote an Act for 76 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: the Encouragement of Learning. That description reflects the basic premise 77 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: of copyright protection that it provides an incentive for people 78 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: to create new works. After all, why go to the 79 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: trouble of writing a book or charting a river if 80 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,600 Speaker 1: anyone can just take and copy your work once it's 81 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: made public. Copyrights effectively grant a monopoly to the creator 82 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 1: of an original work, giving them full control over how 83 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: their work is used, including whether or not it's sold 84 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:42,280 Speaker 1: to a publisher. The flip side to that power, however, 85 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: is that it's only a limited time monopoly, because at 86 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:49,279 Speaker 1: the end of a given period, the copyright expires, and 87 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: from then on the work belongs to everyone. In that light, 88 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:57,480 Speaker 1: a copyright is basically a contract between authors, artists, and 89 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,679 Speaker 1: scientists and the rest of society. They continue making cool 90 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 1: new stuff, and in return, we promise not to steal 91 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: that stuff or mess with it for a certain amount 92 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: of time. The idea of placing a time limit on 93 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 1: those protections is also present in the Copyright Act of 94 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety. At first, a copyright term was set at 95 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: fourteen years, with the option to renew for another fourteen 96 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:25,720 Speaker 1: years or twenty eight years total. However, those rules were 97 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: amended over time, and by nineteen oh nine the terms 98 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,279 Speaker 1: had doubled to twenty eight years. A piece or fifty 99 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:37,039 Speaker 1: six years total. The trouble is there's always someone arguing 100 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:39,680 Speaker 1: that the length of copyrights is too short to make 101 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:42,479 Speaker 1: a profit, and back in the days of fourteen and 102 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: twenty eight year terms, creators may have had a point. Unfortunately, 103 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:51,679 Speaker 1: terms continued to be extended throughout the twentieth century, often 104 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:55,480 Speaker 1: at the behest of corporations looking to safeguard their valuable 105 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:59,919 Speaker 1: intellectual property. As a result, copyright protection in the US 106 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: now extends for up to ninety five years or seventy 107 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: years beyond the death of the work's creator. With excessive 108 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: terms like that, creative works are kept out of the 109 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: public domain for far longer than they used to be, 110 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: making the contract we started with seem increasingly one sided. 111 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: On a more positive note, the list of items protected 112 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: by copyright has been greatly expanded as well. No longer 113 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,560 Speaker 1: limited to books, maps, and charts, copyrights can now be 114 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: secured for everything from music to software, architecture, illustrations, photography, movies, TV, 115 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: video games, websites, you name it. Increasing the scope of 116 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: what can be covered by copyright helps promote innovation and 117 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: progress across a variety of fields, parkening back to the 118 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 1: original purpose of the Copyright Act of seventeen ninety I'm 119 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now know a little more 120 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: about his three today than you did yesterday. You can 121 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: learn even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, 122 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have 123 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, you can always send them my 124 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: way by writing to this day at iHeartMedia dot com. 125 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett for producing the show, 126 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back 127 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: here again tomorrow for another day in History class.