Evolution of the copyright institution in the context of recognition natural human rights

Introduction: the article examines the historical development of copyright in the context of the problems of individual freedom and natural human rights. Materials and Methods: the main method that allowed us to consider the development of copyright over time was the historical and legal research method. General scientific methods were also used: dialectical method of cognition, system approach, induction, deduction, analogy, analysis, synthesis, etc. Results of the Study: the paper critically examines the claim about the origin of copyright in connection with the invention of the printing press in the XV century. It was shown that copyright goes back to Antiquity, when the basic concepts of this legal institution and the first means of legal protection of non-property interests of authors appeared. However, the slave-owning formation hindered the full development of copyright as a complex of property and non-property rights. The spread of printing in medieval Europe set the direction for the development of the Institute of copyright in the direction of ensuring property interests, and initially the property interests of booksellers and publishers, not authors. Questions of non-property rights of authors began to be raised after the recognition of inalienable natural rights for a person. Findings and Conclusions: the Objective prerequisites for the establishment of the Institute of copyright are inextricably linked not so much with the freedom of human expression in creative work (the presence of censorship was not a significant obstacle to the development of this institution), but with the public recognition of basic human rights and freedoms. The established historical and legal connection of copyright with the idea of natural human rights has shown that it was of decisive importance in the formation of the concept of inalienable and non-transferable personal non-property rights of the author.