First published in 1968, Copyright in Historical Perspective remains one of the most important histories of early copyright traditions and laws. Starting in the late 15th century and going through the late 19th century, Lyman Ray Patterson traces the regulation of publishing in Europe and the United States and the threats to fair use and public domain caused by shifting understandings of copyright law.
 

Lyman Ray Patterson (1929-2003) was a law professor, copyright scholar, and a historian. He joined the faculty of the Vanderbilt University Law School in 1963 and taught there for a decade. He later went on to serve as Dean at the Emory University School of Law.

He is the namesake of the American Library Association’s “L. Ray Patterson Copyright Award,” which “recognizes contributions of an individual or group that pursues and supports the Constitutional purpose of the U.S. Copyright Law, fair use, and the public domain.”