In 1774, free culture was born. In a case called Donaldson v. Beckett in the House of Lords in England, free culture was made because copyright was stopped. In 1710, the statute had said that copyright should be for a limited term of just 14 years. But in the 1740s, when Scottish publishers started reprinting classics - you gotta' love the Scots - the London publishers said 'Stop!' They said, 'Copyright is forever!'... These publishers demanded a common-law copyright that would be forever. In 1769, in a case called Miller v. Taylor, they won their claim, but just five years later, in Donaldson, Miller was reversed, and for the first time in history, the works of Shakespeare were freed, freed from the control of a monopoly of publishers. Freed culture was the result of that case.

If you understand this refrain, you're gonna' understand everything I want to say to you today. It has four parts:

That free culture was carried to America; that was our birth - 1790. We established a regime that left creativity unregulated. Now it was unregulated because c…

The problems with software are just examples of the problems found generally with creativity. Our trend in copyright law has been to enclose as much as we can;…

That free culture was carried to America; that was our birth - 1790. We established a regime that left creativity unregulated. Now it was unregulated because c…

The 'Laforgue edition' (1826-1838), heavily rewritten and censored:

In the January, 1933 issue of 'SCIENCE FICTION' appeared a story I had written in 1932 entitled, 'The Reign of the Superman.' I used the pseudonym 'Herbert S. …