HOW COPYRIGHT BEGAN

Evening Star, Issue 21824, 13 September 1934, Page 14

HOW COPYRIGHT BEGAN

SIR EDWARD GERMAN'S STORY Sir Edward German gave his version of the origin of .the law of copyright when ho opened the new offices of the Performing Rights Society in London recently. Sir Edward was addressing a distinguished company of composers and musicians, including Sir London Ronald. Sir Edward said that the copyright law, “ according to his information,” dated back to a period even more remote than tjiat of the reign of Queen Anne. * The principle was first established in the ancient kingdom of Tara, Ireland. In that ancient kingdom of Tara, said Sir Edward, there were two monasteries, and they competed for the “ tourist trade of tho day.” In one monastery lived an artistic monk who designed a very beautiful which so pleased the abbot that he had it hung over the altar. People went in very large numbers to see it. The monks in the other monastery wondered at the decline in the number of their visitors, and sent to find out the reason for the popularity of their rivals. When the abbot of this second monastery was told of the psalter ho ordered an exact copy. The abbot of the first monastery then appealed to the king, whose judgment was “to every , cow her calf,” and ordered that this infringing copy should bo destroyed. Thus was first established the principles of copyright, which is now recognised throughout the -world. Referring to the Performing Rights Society, which protects the rights of composers in the public performance of their works and collects fees for them, Sir Edward said that composers owed it a great debt of gratitude. The qualify of the composition had nothing to do'with the justice of the principle that a composer should he paid for tho performance of his work.