On Tue, 11 Jan 2000, Dean Wilson <ikurya[_at_]interport.net> wrote:
>
> i am a graduate student working on copyright issues during the french
> revolutionary period
>
> would you happen to have any insights as to the exact origins of the
> rights of authors before napoleon
>
> was there a copyright law for dramatic writers or other creative writers
> before napoleon
>
> or was the entire system one of protection and privilege according to
> aristocratic domains
>
> what role did beaumarchais' reform actions play in the instituting of
> copyright in france
>
> your help would be greatly appreciated even if you could simply
> recommend a book
In addition to the works already cited, especially the Carla Hesse -- fabulous -- take a look at the somewhat complicated pre-revolutionary situation (not that the revolution actually simplified things, as you will see). There were different protections introduced at different times for authors of different types of work -- e.g., for literature, dramatic works, musical works and the plastic arts. Renouard's Traiti des droits d'auteur dans la littirature, les sciences et les beaux-arts (Paris, 1838) has an important historical survey in its first volume; also, Olagnier, Le droit d'auteur (Paris, 1934); and Pouillet, Traiti de la propriiti littiraire et artistique (Paris, various editions).
The library of the Institut Henri-Desbois (full name: Institut de Recherche en Propriété Intellectuelle Henri-Desbois; website http://www.ccip.fr/irpi/ <http://www.ccip.fr/irpi/> ) in Paris has a useful historical collection regarding copyright and other intellectual property issues; it also houses dissertations by students at the Paris II university (which I recall include quite a lot of historical research). As a private institution, I don't know if it's on the inter library loan system, but there's a searchable database on the website.
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