The Purpose of Copyright

by Lydia Pallas Loren
 

ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF COPYRIGHT

The primary purpose of copyright is not to protect authors against those who would steal the fruits of their labor.

 

The purpose of copyright law is stated in the US Constitution.

Article I, section 8, clause 8 provides that Congress shall have the power: "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."

 

"Science" denoted knowledge and learning.

 

Thus, the core purpose of copyright law to promote the progress of knowledge and learning.

The means for achieving that purpose are also stated in the Constitution.

It was to be accomplished by "securing for limited times to Authors .... the exclusive Right to their ... Writings."

 

By establishing this marketable right to the use of one's expression, copyright supplies the economic incentive to create and disseminate ideas.

“But the ultimate aim is, by this incentive, to stimulate artistic creativity for the general public good.”

 

PARADIGM SHIFT: Defeat of Original Purpose

The first Copyright Act in the United States granted the exclusive right in a copyrighted work to

• print
• publish
• sell

It lasted for 14 years, with the possibility of a second 14 year term

 

Under current copyright law copyright owners have the right to publish and distribute the work, but also the right to control the

• public performance of a work
• making of adaptations of the work
• reproduction of the work independent of what is done with that new copy.

Now the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 75 years

 

Also:

No Electronic Theft Act - criminal sanctions for copyright infringement

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

- civil and criminal legal sanctions for the circumvention of certain technological measures

- permits copyright owners to force internet service providers to remove material from the internet

 

The ever-expanding scope of rights granted to copyright owners impedes and undercuts the original purpose - the promotion of the progress of knowledge and learning.

COPYRIGHT AND CENSORSHIP
 Copyright interpreted in light of the fundamental misconception of copyright and a focus on monetary issues poses a serious threat of private censorship

• enforced by federal courts
• enforced by internet service providers

 

The need for a license grants to the copyright owner the power to deny that license, i.e., the power to censor certain kinds of speech

The risk of a suit are high and the costs of litigation enormous - this leads to a power of censorship in the hands of copyright owners

 

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, copyright owners can force internet service providers to remove material from the internet