Quote:
Originally Posted by rogue_librarian
Actually, that is precisely the point I was trying to make, beautifully worded: So, yes: Copyright is a privilege bestowed upon authors by society.
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In that case it would be called
"copy privilege". It is called copy right because the situation is reversed. Actually it is authors who are granting fair use exceptions to society. Why would authors need society to graciously assign them the privilege of getting the rights to something they have created? The kind of society, where the individual is at the mercy of the government to decide if what is his is really his, that is your ideal? The author has created the work, by natural law it is his.
It is the authors who bestow upon society the right to the works after the protection period expires (yes, I know life +70 is too long) and to certain fair use exceptions in exchange for protection against illegal use by others. All those examples you mentioned are sales or advertising tools. Of course an author can choose to give away 1 or 1 million copies for free.