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On the Self-Evidence of Copyright

Abstract:

Is there an innate or self-evident right to have control over the reproduction of work you have authored? Conversely, is the crime of unauthorized reproduction wrong in and of itself or wrong merely because it is currently illegal? At present, society as a whole does not share a common answer.


On the Self-Evidence of Copyright


If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of everyone, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it.
-Thomas Jefferson The copyright of authors has been solemnly adjudged ... to be a right of common law. The right to useful inventions seems with equal reason to belong to the inventors.
-James Madison




The concept of copyright is a veritable gordian knot of rights and restrictions. Copyright entails various prohibitions against such diverse acts as copying, distributing, performing, displaying, or creating derivative works. (Brinson & Radcliffe, 1994). Although the specific prohibitions against unauthorized reproduction and distribution are considered most germane to contemporary debates and as such are the focus of the subsequent arguments, it is worth noting that the arguments which will be made concerning unauthorized reproduction and distribution are in many cases applicable to copyright as a whole.
Is there an innate or self-evident right to have control over the reproduction of work you have authored? Isomorphically, is the crime of unauthorized reproduction wrong in and of itself or wrong merely because it is currently illegal? In short, does the unauthorized reproduction of a work infringe upon an...