Donaldson v. Beckett

The booksellers fought back after The Statute of Anne was passed. They were enraged to lose their monopoly. This battle lasted for sixty-five years and the booksellers came up with a devious little strategy. They figured that if the authors owned the rights of their works, they would be treated just like any property owner. Therefore ownership of the copyright would be forever, but it would also be transferrable. Now what do you think was going on in those bookseller’s minds? They were crafty businessmen and they were counting on the authors transferring the copyright of their work to the booksellers. They would then have their monopoly back. This is the maneuvering that the booksellers worked on from 1710 through 1774. This culminated in a court case (Donaldson v. Beckett). This court case was a battle between Messrs. Donaldson, Scottish booksellers, and Mr. Beckett, a London bookseller. They were fighting over the right to publish the same book. The final decision gave the author the right to the first publication of his work forever, but that right was taken away once the book was published.
To view a copy of the proceedings visit:

http://www.copyrighthistory.com/donaldson.html

Reference

Ewing, J. (n.d.) Copyright and authors. First Monday 8(10). Retrieved October 4, 2008, from http://www.firstmonday.org/Issues/issue8_10/ewing