Charles Rennett and the London Music-Sellers in the 1780s: Testing the Ownership of Reversionary Copyrights

Abstract

As printed music became a valuable market commodity in late eighteenth-century England, it became a significant part of debates over the interpretation of the first copyright law (1710). In particular, compositions by Charles Dibdin and John Garth became the focus of several lawsuits filed by the attorney Charles Rennett challenging the traditional interpretation of the clause that granted composers a second 14 years of protection after the first had expired. These suits detail the status of music as intellectual property and offer new information about the businesses of major music-sellers like Longman & Broderip, the Thompsons and John Welcker.