Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
The examined period (1860–1920) of the legal history of the Austrian and Hungarian copyright laws corresponds to the rise and fall of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy. The 1867 agreement of constitutional law known as the Austro-Hungarian Compromise (Ausgleich) transformed the Austrian Empire into the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The ascent and descent of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy coincided with a global expansion in the mass production and international trade of books, sheet music and works of art. Modern reproduction techniques resulted in an increased dissemination, reception and, inevitably, exploitation of literary works, raising the question of their use abroad. Writers and artists gave rise to voices for the general legal regulation of the property question. In the beginning at the period of bilateral convention-making, before the birth of the 1886 Berne Convention, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy took a less active role in these developments due to the chaotic arrangement of its internal laws of its constituent states and the difficulty of entering international agreements on which would require changes to those laws. The early twentieth century but in particular the consequence of World War I was the major reordering of the European state system. A number of new states emerged from the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy (and other empires) moved rapidly to engage the international order and the majority of them joined the Berne Convention.