American Copyright and Common Law

Abstract

In Europe when one speaks of copyright one refers to statutory protection of literary and artistic creations. ¹ It does not make any difference whether the work is published or in the form of a manuscript, not yet revealed to the public, although the place of publication may be relevent. ² In the United States authors had rights in their unpublished works prior to the passage of any legislation by Congress providing for uniform nation-wide protection. ³ This can be traced to the common law of England, ⁴ existing prior to the American Revolution, which the individual states of the United States adopted, subject to some modifications, as their own common law.