The evolution of Copyright Law

In 1790, the law looked like this:

	Publish	Transform
Commercial	©	Free
Noncommercial	Free	Free

By the end of the 19th century, the law had changed to this:

	Publish	Transform
Commercial	©	©
Noncommercial	Free	Free

Derivative works were now regulated by copyright law—if published, which again, given the economics of publishing at the time, means if offered commercially. But noncommercial publishing and transformation were still essentially free.

In 1909 the law changed to regulate copies, not publishing, and after this change, the scope of the law was tied to technology. As the technology of copying became more prevalent, the reach of the law expanded. Thus by 1975, as photocopying machines became more common, the law began to look like this:

	Publish	Transform
Commercial	©	©
Noncommercial	©/Free	Free

With the emergence of digital technologies, especially in the context of a digital network, the law now looks like this:

	Publish	Transform
Commercial	©	©
Noncommercial	©	©

source: Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture: how big media uses technology and the law to lock down culture and control creativity. New York: Penguin, 2004.