Did you know that before 1891 the U.S. was a copyright piracy haven? Up until that time foreign trademark owners had no enforcement rights in the U.S. This left U.S. copiers free to duplicate and distribute such popular current works as Tolstoy, Dickens, and Hugo without repercussion.

Eventually foreign pressure persuaded the U.S. to get in line with international copyright law. The moral of the story? Those concerned about non-convention foreign infringers should take heart – the piracy party will not last forever. History is bound to repeat itself.