Lord Mansfield i prawo autorskie w XXI w.
Lord Mansfield and Copyright Law in the Twenty-First Century

Summary/Abstract: William Murray, Lord Mansfield, was a well-known eighteenth-century English jurist and a fascinating personality. He was involved in two of the oldest and most important copyright disputes in England (his was a landmark decision). This year is the 250th anniversary of the Donaldson v. Becket judgment (1774), which was crucial in determining the duration of copyright protection following the enactment of the Queen Anne Statute of 1709. In this article, the judgment and the circumstances of its delivery are briefly outlined. The following topics are discussed: 1) the duration of copyright protection; 2) the public domain; and 3) (press) publishers’ rights. All these are related to the Donaldson v. Becket case, but they also demonstrate the new face of copyright law in the twenty-first century, including features connected with EU Directive 2019/17 (the Digital Single Market).

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