II.  Purpose of Copyright Law

A copyright is a legal mechanism that gives the creator the right to control various uses of her work after it has been shared with others.16  These uses include the right to reproduce, as well as the right to distribute and publicly display the work.17

The purpose of American copyright law is to encourage the growth of learning and culture for the public welfare, and the award of exclusive rights to authors for a limited time is a means to that end.18  It is important to balance the rights of the public with those of the copyright holder:  

[T]he needs on each side of the scale reflect two broad values that have played vital roles throughout American history:  on the one side, protection of private property and the right of every member of American society, no matter his position, to own private property; and on the other side, the fundamental right of every member of American society to better himself and his position in life through education. 19

In order to achieve this purpose, two approaches have been proposed:  (1) awarding authors complete rights to their works to the degree necessary to promote additional innovations, and (2) restricting authors' control over their works in order to permit others to use and thereby develop those works.20  Copyright law attempts to balance the interests of the copyright holder and the public so that copyright law's purpose of continuing the development of human knowledge is ultimately accomplished.  As a result, copyright law must continually evolve and react to changing circumstances in order to accommodate the myriad of developments that are generated by ever-evolving technological innovations.21