Copyright: Protecting Creators For 3 Centuries and Counting (Maybe)

The notion of copyright--actually a set of rights held by the originator of a creative work--is an old and important one. Copyright establishes the sole right of a work's creator to publicize, duplicate, modify, and sell that work. Its current essential form, in which copyright is established and protected for creators by the government, dates back over 300 years, to the British Parliament and the Statute of Anne in 1710. Indeed, one of the earliest laws in the newly-formed United States of America was the Copyright Act of 1790. While the details and mechanisms of copyright protection have evolved over the years both in the U.S. and worldwide, the notion that creators enjoy some rights and require some protections has been a vital component of creative and intellectual progress.