I can say on the front end that copyright law is one of those necessary evils for the publishing industry. Necessary -- it gives writers, artists and others the financial incentive to create works, allowing them the rights to the money made from their writing, their photographs, their illustrations. An evil -- it's complex, and most freelancers and publishers would likely agree that Congress ignores copyright law for years on end, then addresses it from a less informed viewpoint than most of us would prefer.

Copyright law is one of those issues that really makes me wish for a benevolent dictator, despite my love otherwise for our imperfect democracy. In my opinion, far too much copyright law is decided in the courtroom, admittedly for lack of any reasonable alternative.

(Fair warning: I'll still be talking about copyright law after the jump....)