Copyright, according to the US Constitution, exists for the public good:<p>&gt; To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.<p>You may disagree with that conclusion, but there&#x27;s 200+ years of belief that it&#x27;s possible to be &quot;for the public good&quot; <i>and</i> be covered under copyright which restricts redistribution. The short term loss is outweighed by the long term gain, or so the belief holds.<p>Bear in mind that the copyright term back then was decades shorter than it is now.<p>That said, grant organizations are turning towards requiring publication either in an open access journal, or by having papers restricted for only a short time, rather than the full length of copyright.