Copyright includes not only the right to make copies of a work—called the right of reproduction—it also includes several other rights, including the right to distribute, adapt, publicly perform, and publicly display a work. By allowing authors to control reproduction and other uses of their creative works for a period of time, copyright allows authors to make money by charging for such uses during the copyright term. This in turn creates a financial incentive for authors to invest time and effort to produce new works for the benefit of everybody.

In the United States, the period of copyright control lasts for different periods of time, depending upon who the author may be. The copyright term for a work created by a natural person is the lifetime of the author plus seventy years. The copyright term for a work created by a corporation...