Copying provides less public benefit than ever before.
Formerly, a publisher had to recoup the risks and costs of printing presses, physical transport, and warehousing. Guaranteeing a publisher an income by means of a copyright license was an equitable return on these risks. In return, purchasers got a tangible object, one difficult to reproduce. The cost to copy a digital work is less than in any previous media. When private copying is cheaper than licensed copying, clearly distributors no longer provide public benefit by copying.