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When Ezra Pound launched his writing career in London in 1908, English copyright was governed by an Act of 1844, which required registration of works at Stationers’ Hall in order for copyright to be secured. The Act was soon replaced, however, by the Imperial Copyright Act of 1911, under which copyright protection was extended to works upon creation without the need for registration. Notable among the changes effected by the Act of 1911 was the extension of the term of copyright to life plus fifty years (subject to certain exceptions). Previously, the law fixed the term of copyright at either forty-two years from first publication or the life of the author plus seven years, whichever proved the longer. Two provisions allowed for compulsory licenses as a limitation on copyright.
By the 1650s, the Stationers' Company was attempting to stem the tide of piracy by buying counterfeit almanacks, and taking legal action against offending printers. Transgressors who belonged to the Company, many of whom printed for the English Stock, were summoned to appear before the Court. The Company continued to pounce on the sellers of unstamped almanacks, but, even by 1750, several formidable individuals had begun to infringe upon and challenge the principle of perpetual copyright. In 1834, when the Stationers pressed for a further increase in stamp duty, Parliament 'decided that the privilege was outmoded and had been ill-requited and abolished the tax altogether'. At the same time the Company was attacked for failing in its moral duty by pandering to the superstitious and sensation-loving lower orders rather than publishing educational and improving works.
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