Under U.S. copyright law, authors have the exclusive right to their writings during their lifetimes – unless they sell this right, as most authors do to their publishers – and their heirs retain this exclusive right for 70 years after their death. The historian Thomas Macaulay once described the copyright law as a “tax on readers to give a bounty to authors.” In what sense does the existence of the copyright law impose a tax on the readers? What “bounty” do copyright laws give authors? Discuss whether the government would be doing readers a favor by abolishing copyright law.