Paper on abolishing copyright

[Joseph Esposito <espositoj@gmail.com>]

Here is a link to a paper on abolishing copyright for academic 
works:

http://j.mp/90ooAz

And here is the abstract:

The conventional rationale for copyright of written works, that 
copyright is needed to foster their creation, is seemingly of 
limited applicability to the academic domain. For in a world 
without copyright of academic writing, academics would still 
benefit from publishing in the major way that they do now, 
namely, from gaining scholarly esteem. Yet publishers would 
presumably have to impose fees on authors, because publishers 
would no longer be able to profit from reader charges. If these 
author publication fees would actually be borne by academics, 
their incentives to publish would be reduced. But if the 
publication fees would usually be paid by universities or 
grantors, the motive of academics to publish would be unlikely to 
decrease (and could actually increase) -- suggesting that ending 
academic copyright would be socially desirable in view of the 
broad benefits of a copyright-free world. If so, the demise of 
academic copyright should probably be achieved by a change in 
law, for the 'open access' movement that effectively seeks this 
objective without modification of the law faces fundamental 
difficulties.

Joe Esposito