Copyright law in England has a long history that dates back to the Middle Ages. The first recorded case of copyright protection in England occurred in 1469, when King Edward IV granted a monopoly on the printing of books to the Stationers’ Company, a guild of printers and booksellers. This monopoly allowed the guild to control the production and distribution of books in England, and to protect the rights of its members to print and sell their work.
The modern system of copyright law in England and the United Kingdom was established by the Statute of Anne, which was passed in 1709. This law granted exclusive rights to authors to publish and sell their works, and it set out the conditions under which others could use their work. The Statute of Anne is considered to be the first modern copyright law, and it served as a model for many other countries around the world. Since then, copyright law in England and the UK has been amended and revised several times, but the basic principles of protecting the rights of creators and promoting the spread of knowledge and culture have remained the same.