> if libraries didn't predate copyright, they never would have existed because copyright owners would have argued it's a flagrant violation of copyright. Befor

> if libraries didn't predate copyright, they never would have existed because copyright owners would have argued it's a flagrant violation of copyright. Before the advent of digital media, the meaning of copyright could be cleanly derived from the words it is compounded from. Any publisher arguing that to lend a purchased item to another person infringes on their exclusive right to produce copies, would have been laughed right out of the courtroom.