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Understanding Copyright's First Encounter With The Fine Arts: A Look At The Legislative History Of The Copyright Act Of 1870, Robert Brauneis
Understanding Copyright's First Encounter With The Fine Arts: A Look At The Legislative History Of The Copyright Act Of 1870, Robert Brauneis
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
In 1870, Congress made its single largest addition of categories of copyrightable subject matter, expanding copyright protection to cover “painting[s], drawing[s], chromo[s], statue[s], statuary, and . . . models or designs intended to be perfected as works of the fine arts.” For the first time, it included works not designed or intended to be created and distributed in multiple copies, and it aligned copyright with the “fine arts” as opposed to the “mechanical arts,” a revision of the earlier understanding that copyright would cover “Science” as opposed to the “Useful Arts.” Why did Congress so act?
A thorough examination of …