This is a freely-accessible, publicly-funded digital archive that collects together significant documents relating to the history of copyright law and practice. The documents have been selected by national editors, with the input of an editorial advisory board. Key documents are, where appropriate, transcribed and translated. The editors have written commentaries, explaining the reasons for selecting documents and their significance. The project was launched in 2008, initially funded by the AHRC in relation to 5 countries. Since 2024 it is supported by the AHRC as UK research infrastructure. The archive now extends to more than 20 (including historical and religious) jurisdictions and over 700 primary source documents. They can be browsed by date/language/jurisdiction, or searched.
1479* | Privilege of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1501* | Imperial Senate privilege to the Sodalitas Celtica (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1502 | Privilege of the Imperial Senate for Works of Conrad Celtis (Germany) |
1504* | Privilege Granted to Benedetto Bordon (Italy) |
1507* | Eloy d'Amerval's privilege (France) Commentary: [1] |
1511* | Imperial Privilege for Arnolt Schlick (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1513* | Imperial privilege for Eucharius Rösslin (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1515 | Imperial Privilege for Konrad Peutinger (Germany) |
1516 | Imperial Privilege for Johannes Eck (Germany) |
1517 | Privilege of the Duke of Bavaria (Germany) |
1531* | Basel Printers' Statute (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1550* | Rema Ruling re: Maharam of Padua (Jewish Law) Commentary: [1] |
1552 | Letter Concerning the Danish Bible (Scandinavia) |
1554* | Royal Charter for Licensing (Spain) Commentary: [1] |
1556* | Privilege Granted to Giovanni Ostaus (Italy) |
1559* | Privilege for printing music for the Indies (Spain) Commentary: [1] |
1559* | Pérez v. Fernández de Córdoba (Spain) |
1559 | Day's The Cosmographical Glass (United Kingdom) |
1559* | Day's privilege for The Cosmographical Glass (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1565 | Lauritz Benedicht's Printing Monopoly (Scandinavia) |
1572 | Privilege for Petrus Johannis Godhus (Scandinavia) |
1596* | Total Ban on Book Imports, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia) |
1643* | Establishment of the First Printing House in Norway (Scandinavia) |
1660* | Frankfurt Printers' Ordinance (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1670 | Exclusive Rights to the Book Trade in Christiania (Scandinavia) |
1673 | Nuremberg Printers' Ordinance (Germany) |
1684* | Renewed Swedish Censorship Laws (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1] |
1688 | Establishment of a Printing Press in Iceland (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1] |
1714 | Decree on Fine Arts (France) |
1721 | Printer Joachim Wielandt's Privilege for Popular Chapbooks, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1] |
1723 | Freedom to Print Non-Privileged Books, Denmark–Norway (Scandinavia) |
1738* | Thurneysen: On the Illicit Reprinting of Books (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1740 | Privilege of the Protestant Swiss Cantons (Germany) |
1762* | Free Trade Regulations (Spain) |
1766* | The Swedish Freedom of the Press Ordinance (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1] |
1773 | Information for Alexander Donaldson (United Kingdom) |
1774 | Booksellers' Bill (United Kingdom) |
1783* | Connecticut Copyright Statute (United States) Commentary: [1] |
1783 | Massachusetts Copyright Statute (United States) |
1783 | Maryland Copyright Statute (United States) |
1783 | New Jersey Copyright Statute (United States) |
1783 | New Hampshire Copyright Statute (United States) |
1784 | Pennsylvania Copyright Statute (United States) |
1784 | South Carolina Copyright Statute (United States) |
1785 | Virginia Copyright Statute (United States) |
1785 | North Carolina Copyright Statute (United States) |
1786 | Georgia Copyright Statute (United States) |
1786 | New York Copyright Statute (United States) |
1787 | Constitutional Convention Journal Entry (United States) |
1787 | Madison's Journal Record (United States) |
1787 | Madison's Edited Journal Record (United States) |
1788 | The Federalist No. 43 (United States) |
1789 | Joint Copyright Patent Bill [H.R. 10] (United States) |
1790* | Copyright Act (United States) Commentary: [1] |
1790-1800 | Sample registrations (United States) |
1793* | French Literary and Artistic Property Act (France) Commentary: [1] |
1794* | Prussian Statute Book (ALR) (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1801* | Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1801 | A Bill for the Further Encouragement of Learning (United Kingdom) |
1801 | Copyright Act (parchment copy) (United Kingdom) |
1802 | 1802 Amendment (United States) |
1814* | Court of Cassation on sculptures (France) Commentary: [1] |
1814* | Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1814 | Bill to amend Acts for the Encouragement of Learning (18 May) (United Kingdom) |
1814 | Bill to amend Acts for the Encouragement of Learning (7 June) (United Kingdom) |
1814 | Bill to amend Acts for the Encouragement of Learning (12 July) (United Kingdom) |
1814 | Bill to amend Acts for the Encouragement of Learning (15 July) (United Kingdom) |
1818 | Select Committee Report on the Copyright Acts (United Kingdom) |
1826* | Minutes of the 1825-1826 Commission (France) |
1827* | Treaties on reciprocal protection between Prussia and various German States (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1828 | H.R. 140 Committee Bill (United States) |
1828 | H.R. 140 Consolidated Bill (United States) |
1831* | Copyright Act (United States) Commentary: [1] |
1831 | House Debate (United States) |
1835* | Sofer Responsum on Vilna-Slavuta Talmud Dispute (Jewish Law) Commentary: [1] |
1837* | Prussian Copyright Act (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1837* | Directive for reciprocal copyright protection within the German Confederation (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1838 | Copyright Bill (27 Feb.) (United Kingdom) |
1838 | Copyright Bill (6 June) (United Kingdom) |
1839 | Copyright Bill (United Kingdom) |
1840* | Bilateral Treaty between Austria and Sardinia (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1840 | Copyright Bill (United Kingdom) |
1841* | Report of Lamartine and parliamentary debates on literary property (France) |
1841 | Copyright Bill (United Kingdom) |
1841 | Swedish Ordinance on the Limitation of Terms of Protection (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1] |
1842* | Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1842 | Bill to Amend the Law of Copyright (4 March) (United Kingdom) |
1842 | Bill to Amend the Law of Copyright (23 March) (United Kingdom) |
1842 | Bill to Amend the Law of Copyright (21 April) (United Kingdom) |
1844* | Saxon Copyright Act (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1844* | International Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1846* | Bilateral Treaty between Prussia and Great Britain (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1846* | Austrian Copyright Act (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1847* | Literary Property Act (Spain) Commentary: [1] |
1848* | Copyright Formalities: Registration (Spain) |
1851 | Anglo-French Copyright Treaty (United Kingdom) |
1852* | International Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1853* | Bluntschli: On Authors' Rights (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1853 | British-American Copyright Convention Draft (United States) |
1857* | Wächter: 'Publishing Right' (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1861* | Confederate States of America Copyright Act (United States) |
1863 | Confederate States of America Copyright Act Amendement (United States) |
1865* | Copyright Act Amendment (United States) |
1866* | Literary and artistic property act (France) |
1868* | Proudhon: 'Les Majorats littéraires' (France) |
1870* | Copyright Act for the German Empire (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1870* | Copinger's Law of Copyright (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1870* | Copyright Act (United States) |
1876 | Book Printer H. J. Jensen vs. The Poet Henrik Ibsen (Scandinavia) |
1876 | Act on the Protection of Written Property, Norway (Scandinavia) |
1876 | Act on the Protection of Written Property, Norway (Scandinavia) |
1877* | Gareis: Juridical Nature of Author's Rights (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1877* | Swedish Copyright Act (Scandinavia) Commentary: [1] |
1878* | Morillot on the author's right (France) |
1878* | Spanish Copyright Formalities: Certificates (Spain) |
1878* | Royal Commissioners' Report (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1878 | Royal Commission on Copyright: Minutes of Evidence (United Kingdom) |
1879 | Copyright Consolidation Bill (United Kingdom) |
1879* | Baker v. Selden (United States) Commentary: [1] |
1879 | Baker's Argument (United States) |
1884 | Bilateral treaty between Switzerland and France (Germany) |
1885* | First Inscriptions of Works at the Spanish Copyright Office (Spain) |
1886* | International Copyright Act (United Kingdom) Commentary: [1] |
1886 | International Copyright Bill (United Kingdom) |
1886 | Correspondence respecting the Copyright Union (United Kingdom) |
1891 | 50 Prussian Expert Opinions from 1870-1876 (Germany) |
1892* | Bilateral treaty between the German Reich and the U.S.A. (Germany) Commentary: [1] |
1896 | Regarding Norway’s Accession to the Berne Convention (Scandinavia) |