Motte V Faulkner

Motte v Faulkner (decided 28 November 1735) was a copyright lawsuit between Benjamin Motte and George Faulkner over who had the legal rights to publish the works of Jonathan Swift in London. This trial was one of the first to test the Statute of Anne copyright law in regards to Irish publishing independence. Although neither held the copyright to all of Swift's works, the suit became a legal struggle over Irish rights, which were eventually denied by the English courts. Faulkner, in 1735, published the Works of Jonathan Swift in Dublin. However, a few of the works were under Motte's copyright within the Kingdom of Great Britain, and when Faulkner sought to sell his book in London, Motte issued a formal complaint to Jonathan Swift and then proceeded to sue Faulkner. An injunction was issued in Motte's favor, and the book was prohibited from being sold on British soil. The basis of the law protected the rights of the author, and not the publisher, of the works, and Swift was unwilling to support a lawsuit against Faulkner. With Swift's reaction used as a basis, the lawsuit was later seen as a struggle between the rights of Irishmen to print material that were denied under English law.

Read more about Motte V Faulkner:  The Case, The Decision, Critical Response, Influence

Other articles related to "motte v faulkner, faulkner":

Motte V Faulkner - Influence
... In legal terms, the report of Motte v Faulkner of 28 November 1735 is no longer in existence, but was cited in a later legal decisions on copyright issues, such as Miller v ... the Irish/English aspects of publishing that came up in Motte v Faulkner ... his reprinting of a work from a Dublin edition originally made by George Faulkner would, under the Statute of Anne, be lawfully reprinted in England ...

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    If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is worth any number of old ladies.
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