Copyright is the set of exclusive rights which are automatically assigned to an original piece of work for the purposes of protecting the skill, labour and judgement involved in the production of the work rather than any creative merit. Thus, the fundamental premise for copyright protection is the impartial grant of an exclusive property right to control the replication and dissemination of an author’s works in order to reduce the supply of these works. Accordingly, this secures and rewards the author with a financial incentive to continuing producing such works and for the effort required in creating such works. It is evident that there is a positively correlated relationship between the financial incentive which is remunerated for an author’s creative expression and the level of community acceptance surrounding the works. Thus, the recognition which is achieved by the author in the production of such works typically drives society to demand more of the works and therefore spurs the creative process forward. It is obvious that this is more of a critically important aspect in the online world than in the offline one because of the ability for authors to replicate and deliver their works at only a single initial cost. Due to advancements in digital processing and growth of the internet, the ability for an author to now produce only one original version of their work and then replicate it an infinite number of times to reach millions of people around the globe instantly is effortless.
