"there have been protections against copying creative works pretty much as long as it's been possible to copy creative works"
Funny how in ancient times, there were cities that required that any books brought into the city be copied and stored in the library. It was because of the copying activities of monks and scholars that we have man ancient works, and nobody complained about them copying things.
Restrictions on copying entered the picture because of censorship. You talk about the pre-Statute of Anne copying restrictions as though they had anything to do with the creators of written works; those restrictions existed solely for the purpose of censoring authors. The side of effect of those approaches in English law was the creation of a large, powerful publishing monopoly, which is how the Statute of Anne was created in the first place (the lobbying effort was led by and almost entirely consisted of the businesses that had benefited from the previous system).
Funny how in ancient times, there were cities that required that any books brought into the city be copied and stored in the library. It was because of the copying activities of monks and scholars that we have man ancient works, and nobody complained about them copying things.
Restrictions on copying entered the picture because of censorship. You talk about the pre-Statute of Anne copying restrictions as though they had anything to do with the creators of written works; those restrictions existed solely for the purpose of censoring authors. The side of effect of those approaches in English law was the creation of a large, powerful publishing monopoly, which is how the Statute of Anne was created in the first place (the lobbying effort was led by and almost entirely consisted of the businesses that had benefited from the previous system).