Of Social Contracts and Government Sell-outs - Free Trade Area of the Americas Treaty (updated)

A brief look at Copyright's Past

Somewhere back in the annals of time (see References for a pictorial list of the evolution), a policy was adopted by a government (1710 - the Statute of Anne)  that those who create an expression of art or culture or creativity should be protected from those who would take that expression (be it a song, a book, a drawing or later a movie or computer program) and represent it for their own and copy it (and sell it) for gain. In return for this "Copy Right", the rest of the population was given compensation in the form of a guarantee that this right was not "forever" (was initially 14 years with potential for extension by another 14 years) and that regardless of this overall Copyright, the public could comment on (fair dealing) and participate in the subsequent re-sale of a copy if they initially purchased one (first sale doctrine.)

That policy seems to have been deemed a "good thing" by subsequent governments and has been adopted in some form or other by all. The social contract, now enshrined in laws of the land, struck a balance between the right of a creator to benefit from their creation and the benefits to the general population of wider distribution of the works because of this.

At that time, creating a copy was not easy. Large-scale printing and publishing firms didn't exist and distribution was by horse-drawn wagon. Special businesses called publishing houses did most of the heavy lifting and paid the original creators a royalty.