Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
Gosh, you're right. I guess that's why we didn't have authors or books before copyright and why no one made any money on books until copyright was extended world wide back in the early 1970's.  |
It was the invention of the printing press which triggered the need for copyright laws. You're slightly wrong in saying that "we didn't have authors or books before copyright", but not much wrong; when books had to be copied by hand, it certainly wasn't practical to make a living from being an author. The printing press changed that.