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Global Copyright: Three Hundred Years Since the Statute of Anne, From 1709 to Cyberspace (edited by Lionel Bently, Uma Suthersanen and Paul Torremans)
The Statute of Anne is often referred to in debates about copyright law and policy (typically in a passing reference), to suggest that copyright must be fundamentally rethought because society and technology have changed significantly since the early days of the printing press. What is not nearly as common is a collection of commentary which discusses the Statute of Anne within its broader historical context, extracting lessons that are fruitful for modern copyright policy and reform.
Global Copyright: Three Hundred Years Since the Statute of Anne, From 1709 to Cyberspace is a book which accomplishes the uncommon and provides the reader with such unique insights.
This book is a result of the ALAI 2009 London Congress, which leading copyright experts and scholars from across the globe attended in celebration of the 300th anniversary of The Statute of Anne. The format of the book is one of multiple authors, each contributing one chapter to the book. A quick glance at the list of contributors shows representation from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, Finland, France, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, UK, and the USA. 1 A broad range of perspectives are canvassed in the book by experts working in academia, copyright and patent offices, libraries, technology companies, book trade associations, and copyright collectives.
With 300 years to cover since the Statute of Anne, there are many topics that could be covered and it would be easy to get lost in all the possibilities, but the book is well organized and divided into three main parts: Part I (The Statute of Anne and its role in the world of copyright), Part II (Digital libraries and online licensing), and Part III (The borderless era: international exhaustion, global administration and formalities). Within 522 pages, key global copyright issues are covered in great detail.
For the purposes of this review, it is not possible to cover all of the excellent chapters within this book, so a sampling of materials in the book will be highlighted to provide a sense of its scope and content. Part I (Chapters 1 to 11) begins with the history of copyright...