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| French Author, Priest, and Secretary Jean Miélot Writing |
Sabellico’s proposed work, Decades rerum Venetarum, was a history of Venice. His laborious efforts could have been published just like any other author’s, but this “was a form of reward…which promoted the public interest, rather than the inherent rights of the author” (Kostlyo). If any unauthorized entity published his book, they would be fined, and replication of it was illegal.
For our Renaissance friends, this measure was largely viewed as a wise business move, the authors being more concerned about protecting their work than necessarily claiming it. They pored over their work, doing extensive research with limited resources, then meticulously drafting it by hand before taking it to a publisher, often only to be hired to proofread and/or publish his own work (Kostylo). It was no easy task, making it clear why the author would want his/her work protected.
For many of us, an alarm goes off when we hear the word copyright; we usually hit ‘snooze’ and settle into our indifference to copyright and its complexities, yet there’s the occasional nag, warning us to tread carefully. It’s almost fitting, given twenty-first century culture. For our voices to be heard, we simply download an app, push a few buttons, and announce how we feel about homework. The process doesn’t begin to compare with what Sabellico surmounted. Author Roy Leeper pointed out that “copyright was the best means of encouraging the development of new knowledge that benefitted society,” suggesting that the very Renaissance ideals that inspired the invention of the printing press would in turn inspire more people to discover more ideas (emphasis added). Although copyright laws clearly exist and are enforced in many situations, would stricter policies, particularly regarding social media usage, promote originality and unearth golden ideas? If so, what possible ways would this be implemented?
Works Cited:
Kostylo, J. (2008) ‘Commentary on Marcantonio Sabellico's privilege (1486)', in Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
Leeper, Roy V. "Copyright." Encyclopedia of Public Relations, edited by Robert L. Heath, vol. 1, SAGE Reference, 2005, pp. 201-202. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/apps/doc/CX3439100108/GVRL?u=byuprovo&sid=GVRL&xid=872b759a. Accessed 16 Sept. 2018.
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