Although quite a few philosophers, etc. have talked about this sort of purpose in theory (think Nozick, Mill, etc.), I still think that the main purpose of copyright law (and patent law) is to preserve the author's (or inventor's) ability to profit from their work.

In general, these older legal traditions were created with the sole intention of allowing the wealthy to retain their wealth, in this case by expanding our normal understanding of property rights to include intellectual property. The idea with property rights in general, be they real or intellectual property rights is, first and foremost, retention of economic interest.

ivory

In reply to Re: Re: Re: Fair Use When Referring to Book Answers? by ivory
in thread Fair Use When Referring to Book Answers? by Guildenstern

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