Most debates over copyright center on the purported advantages of various schemes. I think as you suggest that it's also necessary to look at the failure modes. A looser copyright regime has as its failure mode that a creator might not receive payment for a particular transaction, possibly even one that he might have gotten paid for otherwise. A stricter copyright regime has as its failure mode that a particular work might be denied any place in the collective culture, providing no benefit or enjoyment to anyone.
no subject