Quote:
Originally Posted by Sil_liS
And when it comes to the author's profit, you seem to be ignoring that fact that authors were selling their works before copyright as well. Some authors were cheated out of their profits before copyright, and some are cheated out of their profits now. Publishers provide a service to the authors just like the government provides a service to the citizens but nobody would be happy to be taxed 75% of their due income and think oh well, the government is expensive to run, this is fine.
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I haven't been addressing the issues of major publishers in the copyright debates, as their position is more about long-term corporate financial profit, and that has certainly corrupted the original intent of copyright. I have been more concerned for the independent authors and creators who find themselves with less and less of a voice, less protection, and less public appreciation for their efforts, as the corporate efforts tend to drown indies out and cause them to get tarred by brushes not meant for them.
As for the corporations, they have profit to pursue--nothing surprising in that--and they'll have to deal with the reactions of authors and consumers who question the worth of their efforts.
Sure, authors sold works before copyright. And when it became easy to duplicate and redistribute someone's work without their permission, thanks to the printing press and other technologies, copyright was devised to restore fairness to the system and make it worth a creator's time and effort to create. No, it hasn't completely deterred theft, and some are cheated out of their profits now (mostly by those who ignore copyright laws).
But all of these reasons are not sufficient to abolish copyright; they are good reasons to fix it and enforce it better.