Re: New York Times

On Sun, 31 Mar 1996, Margie Wylie wrote:
>
> For us layfolk: What is the Statute of Anne?

The Statute of Anne is the commonly used name for a particular statute in British law which was enacted in the late 18th century (I'm going from memory so I don't have the exact date handy). It is also often taken as the first parliamentary statute on copyright. It was a replacement for the earlier mechanism governing the book trade which was a privately administered mechanism known as the stationer's copyright. Anyone who wanted to be involved with the book trade before the Statute of Anne had to be a member of the Stationers' Company which was the group who had designed and administered the stationer's company. The special role of the Stationers' Company in regulating the book trade led to a monopoly amongst its members. The Statute of Anne had provisions for people who were not members of the Stationers' Company to publish books. The main difference between the Statute of Anne and the stationer's copyright (besides being a statute instead of a private mechanism) was its anti-monopoly provisions.

Hope this helps.

                            Steven Bosnick
                         sbosnick[_at_]uoguelph.ca
                                                            VP External
Philosophy Department                    Graduate Students' Association
University of Guelph                               University of Guelph