In the National Gallery, there is a sequence of paintings by Hogarth: 
Marriage a la Mode.  Because of improvements in printing technology, 
printers were able to reproduce the hugely popular series and sell  
them; Hogarth did not get paid.  As a consequence, the explanatory signs at the National
Gallery say, Parliament passed the first copyright law in
1735.  
 
The intersection of a market economy (ironically the series was about  
the noveau riche of the British economy) with technological innovation  
created a crisis about what the nature of property rights should be in  
artistic creation. 
 
Fred Carstensen 
University of Connecticut