Copyright Issues in the Publishing Activities of the Dostoevskys

Copyright is one of the most important concepts in a writer’s profession, which protected Fyodor Dostoevsky’s his intellectual property and allowed him to earn. After his death, his intellectual property was inherited by his wife and children. This article attempts to explore certain aspects of copyright that the writer’s widow, Anna Grigorievna, faced based on the known documents from the Dostoevsky archive and legal literature from the 19th and early 20th centuries. This includes the recognition of letters as objects of copyright, the transfer of publishing rights to a third party, the distribution of income from book sales among the writer’s children as coheirs of literary property, the permission to stage plays and operas based on Dostoevsky’s works, the reduction of the copyright term, and the sale of literary property. An analysis of archival materials and a study of the legislation of the Russian Empire revealed a discrepancy between the ratio of inheritance shares for copyright between the publisher and her children, as stated in her private correspondence, and the type of property. Copyright was considered a movable asset, but the shares in the Dostoevsky family were distributed as if they were real estate. This suggests that copyright had a special status and could not be fully equated with movable property. Special attention is heeded to the reasons why Dostoevsky, while still alive, in 1874, sold the copyrights to his mother-in-law, Anna Nikolaevna Snitkina, and the writer’s wife later acquired them. Dostoevsky intended this transfer of rights to ensure an equal distribution of income from the publications among his wife and children, which was subsequently implemented, as evidenced by Anna Grigorievna’s notes. The article presents a hypothesis explaining Dostoevskaya’s reluctance to disclose that she received a third of the income from the sale of the books. She was uncomfortable with the idea of her wealth, and she repeatedly referred to the widow’s share, which was legally set at 1/7 of the inherited property. The materials on copyright issues presented in the article are examined in the legal context of the 19th century, offering a necessary historical commentary on the publishing activities of A. G. Dostoevskaya.