ABSTRACT
Copyright law in the United States has always involved a struggle for balance; a balance between granting rights to "authors" in their "writings" sufficient to provide the incentive to create and ensuring that those rights do not stifle the progress copyright law is designed to achieve. Whether described as designing "leaky rules" or designing rules that permit a certain amount of "free-riding,"2 the copyright law must build in a balance in order to achieve its underlying purpose of progress in knowledge and learning. The "free-riding" permitted by the Copyright Act is not an accident, 3 but rather is integral to the design of an effective system meant to promote progress. The rights granted to copyright owners come at a cost borne the public in reduced access, use, and enjoyment of copyrighted works.
