Yes, the law fully empowers you to buy second-hand or use a library. It’s funny, I always buy new books by authors in this space I disagree with, and often smile at the thought of me helping them benefit from their copyright!

On Helprin and identifying those who oppose in all forms — my recollection is he does not. His prose style is compelling in its fluidity and choice of words, but sometimes that leaves a bit of opaqueness. He is openly critical of Professors Boyle and Lessig — the former was a bit nasty in criticism of Helprin earlier and of course the latter created a wiki that ended up hosting most of the vitriolic attacks on Helprin — but he doesn’t explicitly put them in the abolitionist camp. You could argue he implies it, though. I think he quotes the Techdirt writer, using a quote where the writer says he no longer sees any merit to copyright, but that writer often writes with extreme prose; most professors are more cautious in their use of language.

I have a hard time thinking of any rational actor in this debate who is completely opposed to all forms of intellectual property. I have not read Boldrin and Levine’s Against Intellectual Property (http://www.dklevine.com/general/intellectual/against.htm ) but I heard Levine speak at a Cato summit once, and the professor called for absolutely no copyright. He said movie studios could make their money on the day or so they’d have in a theater before the movie hit the torrents, and on popcorn (that money actually goes to theaters). He also cited the adult film industry as an example of studios who make money with, essentially, no copyright protection (because DoJ doesn’t exactly look out for them). Just having seen “Up,” with the hundreds of names that crawled across the screen, I can’t imagine that movie being made with no copyright protection, and what a loss that would be.

Oh, and most certainly there are a lot of folks who post on blogs at CNET, Slashdot, and the various P2P blogs that argue for abolition of copyright, but let’s face it, those are not people actually involved in the debate in any substantive way.

Does Helprin identify by name anyone who opposes copyright in all forms? For that matter, have you ever done so? Please tell your readers who out there is calling for a wholesale repeal of the Copyright Act.