Article: The Purpose of Copyright by Lydia Pallas Loren

This article by Lydia Pallas Loren (Associate Professor of Law, Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College) provides a useful overview of copyright and its purpose. I like that she even talks about the "dark side".  Loren notes:

This dark side, this pervasive misconception, is turning copyright into what our founding fathers tried to guard against - a tool for censorship and monopolistic oppression.

The article is written so that one does not have to be a copyright expert to understand it. It would be a good article to add to an academic reading list on the topic.