A Harlot's Progress in 1733

William hogarth published a series called a harlot's progress in 17 33. He was aware of the risk that copy cats could plagiarize his work. Fake copies were produced all over london by seedy printers hoping to cash in on hogarth's work. So he went to parliament, and they made a case that their work should be legally protected. A piece of legislation called the engravers act was introduced in 17 34 with language that would protect engravings that featured original designs. You'll sometimes also see it written as hogarth's law.