Commentary on Fichte’s 'The Illegality of the Unauthorised Reprinting of Books': An Essay on Intellectual Property During the Age of the Enlightenment

Abstract

this article is a commentary on the author’s English translation of JG Fichte’s Proof of the Illegality of the Unauthorised Reprinting of Books: An Argument and a Parable, written in 1793. The text is an interesting statement of Fichte’s natural law interpretation of copyright law. In his commentary, Mayeda compares and contrasts competing theories of intellectual property of Fichte’s contemporaries, including Immanuel Kant, GWF Hegel and John Locke. Mayeda also describes those elements unique to Fichte’s argument that will be taken up again in his later philosophical works, which articulate an intersubjective approach to law.