One way to consider copyright: when the concept gained traction 16th and 17th centuries, the doctrine existed to protect the author’s ability to get someone to

One way to consider copyright: when the concept gained traction 16th and 17th centuries, the doctrine existed to protect the author’s ability to get someone to finance the printing of his work. That is reproduction was costly and required an investment by a printer. The printer faced more economic harm than the author if he spent $20,000 typesetting and printing a thousand copies of something only to find a competitor beat him to the market. To be clear, the copyright attaches to the author, but it is only valuable because it enables the author to induce a printer to publish his work. Now, as the costs of publishing have dropped to zero, the concept is beginning to make less sense.