cf6aaedb_Soviet_Union___Mincov_Law_Blog__Quote_from_Patry_s_book
[Page] 75 [My Comments] Patry makes a valid point here, and this is a big problem with most supporters of stronger copyright laws. These three objectives on the surface seem like good reasons for having copyright laws, but as Patry brilliantly does in his book, they turn out to be shallow, because indeed, copyright does not provide true incentives for creativity, it does not enhance access to the works and it seldom generates much respect for creators through non-economic rights. The only valid reason for existence of copyright laws, in my opinion, is the extension of something we are all taught as children: “don’t take what is not yours, ask!” It is natural for authors, if we regard them as free individuals, and not slaves, to have the right to decide how to dispose of the results of their work. Because they cannot put a physical lock on their works and have armed guards protect it, they need to have a valid cause of action to go after those who choose to circumvent the market rules and obtain the benefit of using the works without giving the author what the author is selling the right to use his works for. Whether or not protection of authors benefits the society is utterly irrelevant. An argument can easily be made (and is being made more and more vocally today) that copyright actually hurts the society as a whole. So what! If we enslaved 30% of the world population and had them work for us for free, our society would have benefited even more. Imagine the world we could enjoy with all this free labour! [Quote from Patry’s book] 
Laws are effective only if they do what we want them to. What do we want copyright laws to do? The most popular things policymakers say copyright laws should do are (1) provide incentives for authors to create works they would not create in the absence of that incentive; (2) provide the public with access to those works; and (3) provide respect, via non-economic rights, for those who create cultural works.
How Not To Fix Copyright - My Response to William Patry - Socialist copyright law - Soviet Union | Mincov Law Blog
Quote from Patry’s book