XIX
THE INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT MOVEMENT IN AMERICA
Initial en-
deavor in
America,
1837
Simultaneously with the earliest legislation for international copyright among European states, there
was a movement in the same direction in the United
States. In the Twenty-fourth Congress, February 2,
1837, Henry Clay presented to the Senate an address
of British authors asking for copyright protection in
this country. This petition was signed by Thomas
Moore and fifty-five others, and was later supplemented
by additional signatures and by an American petition
to the same effect.
The British
address
The text of the address is as follows, the reference
in paragraph seven being to a letter by Dr. M'Vickar
printed in the New York American, November 19,
1832:
"The humble address and petition of certain authors of Great Britain, to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled, respectfully showeth—
"1. That your petitioners have long been exposed to injury in their reputation and property, from the want of a law by which the exclusive right to their respective writings may be secured to them in the United States of America.
"2. That, for want of such law, deep and extensive injuries have, of late, been inflicted on the reputation and property of certain of your petitioners; and on the interests of literature and science, which ought to constitute a bond of union and friendship between the United States and Great Britain.
