Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society Charles Dickens, Copyright Pioneer

Charles Dickens was one of the most vociferous copyright campaign supporters of his generation and, although he did not win the battle in his lifetime, his concerted efforts to put copyright at the forefront of political agendas, was a major influence on the final creation of fair copyright law. From the very beginning of his career, my great great great grandfather was plagued by plagiarism. As with all his novels, Dickens wrote The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club in instalments, writing each section to a deadline and publishing as it was written. The Pickwick Papers (as it is known today) appeared in monthly parts from March 1836 to October 1837. Even as Dickens was still formulating his plot, other writers began working on pirated versions. For his stage play The Pickwick Club or the Age We Live In, dramatist Edward Stirling, had to come up with his own ending, because he had no idea what conclusion Dickens was planning. Dickens was infuriated by the rampant plagiarism of his work, but the existing laws on copyright were of scant help.