Case 7. Copyright

Titius reads in a certain newspaper that a new edition has been published in the United States of America of a certain book written some years before by an English bishop and published in London. The said bishop, however, complained that his permission had not been sought for the book to be published anew, and indeed that the edition had been made contrary to literary honesty and courtesy. Titius therefore asked a certain theologian whether it was also contrary to moral honesty and justice. Hence it is asked:

1. Is there from the law of nature an exclusive right to publish one’s own book again?

2. If municipal law grants that right to the author, does it pertain to conscience not to violate the law?

3. What kind of right is granted by English law in this matter and by the law of the United States?

4. What is to be said of the case?

1. Is copyright of natural law?

It is a disputed point whether copyright, i.e., the exclusive right to multiply copies of a book, belongs to natural or positive law. All agree that until the book has been published the complete ownership of it belongs to the author, and that anyone who deprives him of it against his will commits theft. After publication some authorities hold that as far as the law of nature goes anyone who buys a copy may make what use of it he pleases, and may even issue it again without the author’s permission if he chooses to do so. He is merely making use of his own property. Others, however, affirm that by the law of nature an author may reserve to himself the right of re-issuing his book, while he publishes and sells it to buyers for all other purposes. This is the better opinion.¹

1 Manual of Moral Theology, vol. i, p. 346.

2. If the civil law protects copyright, is it matter of conscience not to infringe it ?

Yes, for the case is one in which positive law determines what is at least suggested by the law of nature, and what is in entire agreement with its dictates.²

2 The same work, p. 126.

3. What is the law of copyright in England and in the United States?

In England the law protects copyright for the author's life and for seven years more, or for forty-two years, if this period is longer than the former. In the United States the original term runs for twenty-eight years, but it may be renewed for a further period of fourteen years. A foreign author may obtain copyright in the United States provided that the book is produced in the United States from type set up there or from plates manufactured there.

4. The case. The English bishop in the case certainly had grounds for complaining that his book had been issued in America without his permission. As is clear from the answers given above, it is not absolutely certain that the act was also against honesty and justice, for we must suppose that the bishop had not fulfilled the conditions for acquiring copyright in the United States.