History of Intellectual Property in a Digital Age

By Al Portner

The digital age brings an old problem back into the limelight. As Amazon.com introduces its new Kindle II, and Google intends to create a single digital library that contains all of the world’s knowledge, the notion of “Intellectual Property” and how the creators of that property are compensated returns to top of mind awareness.

“Intellectual Property Laws” describe the system that determines legal ownership of ideas or artworks of various kinds. Copyrights protect the financial ownership of a work of art like photos, paintings, books, films, or music. The 1st U.S. copyright registered to John Barry for a spelling book in 1790.

In the United States, copyrights are registered with the Library of Congress. Registration makes rights easier to enforce, but the copyright is born at the moment the author creates the artwork. Registration does not necessarily secure all rights worldwide.

This was a problem in the 19th Century. Mark Twain, a proponent of copyright legislation, went to extraordinary lengths to register new works with American and British Empire Copyright Offices simultaneously. A number of Twain’s books were pirated by Canadian publishers.

The famous white suit in which we often think of Mark Twain first appeared at a Congressional hearing on copyright in December, 1906. He dressed in all white to draw additional attention to the issue. Delighted with the sensation caused, he immediately ordered six more white suits; ever after referred to as his “Don’t Care A Damn Suits.”

Finally, countries agreed to international treaties that most abide by; most recently -- the Berne Switzerland Convention of 1989. Copyrights on new works give authors ownership for their lifetime plus 70 years. Afterwards, works pass into the “Public Domain” without need to compensate an owner.

With all art, ideas expressed cannot be copyrighted, but exact duplication is protected. New, derivative works written must credit original sources. This is called “Fair Use.”

Google’s attempt to digitize the world’s libraries reached a settlement in 2008, but new complexities will continue the debate over “intellectual property” well into the future.

Al Portner is a former daily newspaper editor and publisher who has operated newspapers in seven states. He is currently the proprietor of The Assignment Desk, LLC, an editorial services consortium.

Portner is also the author the forthcoming non-fiction book “Mark Twain and the Tale of Grant’s Memoir.” He can be reached at alanportner@theassignmentdesk.net. The Assignment Desk URL address is www.theassignmentdesk.net.