Copyright and Authors

Although I may not agree with everything in John Ewing’s essay, Copyright and Authors, I have to admit that it’s definitely thought-provoking. “The problem of copyright is not author rights � the problem is balance. Copyright is control, with a purpose. Copyright controls the dissemination of works in order to provide incentives to create and to publish; that�s good for everyone, authors and the public alike. But perpetual (or nearly perpetual) control works against the public interest, and that�s true whether it�s the publisher or the author who exercises the control. Encouraging every author to retain copyright simply replaces the deliberate tyranny of the few by the inadvertent tyranny of the many.” The essay includes of an interesting overview of the history of copyright.