Chapter 4 Publishing and the Limits of Copyright

The absence of copyright on foreign reprints created the peculiar risk that after
investing in an American edition, a publisher might find much of the market
taken by a competitor. To avert that possibility, publisher might find much to
maintain an informal norm known as "courtesy of the trade," which meant leaving
the market for foreign book to the first publisher to issue it in America"
(Starr, 123).

In The Creation of the Media, Starr trying to show the importance of Copyright. In today's society a lot of things such as Cd's, Movies, and Books are being shared amongst people who are not the people who originally came up with the ideas such as publish the book, wrote or sing the song or had any form of creating anything. Many authors, artists, etc, try to come up with many ways trying to keep their work from being copied. However, many people really don't care and take advantage of them because they made it possible for them to steal or get their information without paying for it. By this the authors, artist lose any profit that there were able to make. Many people feel the need to copyright because when they feel that it serves them right as the original workers to do so, and also for them to try to profit from their work. Also there is a competitive market that they feel obligated to copyright. Publishers and other artist's has an obligation to copyright with all the competition going on. Although the competitive market is good because the consumer has different choices. However, it does not benefit the artist.