The role of copyright history in casting out the demons of copyright propertization

Scholars from both side of the Atlantic Ocean converge on the assumption that the qualification of copyright as a property right has always led to the expansion of scope and duration of authors’ exclusive rights to the detriment of exceptions and the public interest. According to this narrative, the shift from monopoly-based to property-based structures implies the abandonment of utilitarian principles in favour of a natural law model of absolute ownership protection. This contribution aims at confuting this argument as an oversimplification, through a de-structured analysis of genesis, rationales and impact of the epiphanies of propertization in copyright history, with a focus on the two main models of copyright (England) and authors’ rights (France), and using as complementary test beds Germany and Italy. The analysis identifies the factors influencing the emergence of the phenomenon, sheds light on their interaction, and explains how and why apparently similar national “copyright propertizations” could produce often radically different regulatory outputs. The results of this comparative exercise represent the ultimate evidence of the fallacies of the common narrative, and provide useful analytical tools to better understand origins and implications of the contemporary copyright propertization, and to better orient its effects and correct its distortions.