Authors and their Tokens: Artefactual History of Copyright Subject Matter

Abstract

The underlying idea of this study is to argue that looking deep into the history of copyright development will provide an understanding of contemporary technologies, in particular the latest revolutions in the digital market. Therefore, the subject of this analysis are the events and historical discussions that took place before shaping the contemporary copyright law’s institutions and that were related to the first normative acts pertaining to its structure. The first part presents a historical analysis of the institution of copyright, the disputes surrounding the formation and development of thinking about copyright as an independent institution, and then answers the question of the artefactuality of copyright, particularly from the perspective of authorship, the work, and the combination of these two essentials of the copyright’s system. This will be contrasted with the recently discussed issue of the legal valuation of tokens and their relevance to copyright.