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The Statute replaced the monopoly enjoyed by the Stationer's Company granted in 1556 during the reign of Mary I which after several renewals expired in 1695. Under this regime, company members would buy manuscripts from authors but once purchased, would have a perpetual monopoly on the printing of the work. Authors themselves were excluded from membership in the company and could not therefore legally self-publish, nor were they given royalties for books that sold well.

The statute of 1709 vests authors rather than printers with the monopoly on the reproduction of their works. It created a 21 year term for all works already in print at the time of its enactment and a 14 year term for all works published subsequently. It also required that printers provide nine copies to the Stationer's Company for distribution to the Royal Library , the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge , the libraries of the universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen in Scotland, Sion College and the Faculty Of Advocates library in Edinburgh . The Copyright (Ireland) Act 1801 added Trinity College and King's Inns in Dublin as two further depositories.


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