alt Hacker NewsCopying was a thing for a very long time before the Statue of Anne. Just not mechanically. It coincided with the rise of mechanical copying.
Copying was a thing for a very long time before the Statue of Anne. Just not mechanically. It coincided with the rise of mechanical copying.
Copyright predates mechanical copying. However, people used to have to petition a King or similar to be granted a monopoly on a work, and the monopoly was specific to that work.