How Will They Compete or Is “Copyright” a “Capitalistic” Concept?

This time I want to quote myself:

“Alpha: What baloney! How can they have a competition if the work is the same for everybody?
Beta: How? How do they always compete? Some put lots of ads on TV—that’s how they compete. Some sell their copies cheaper—that’s how they compete. Some make their books in hardcover—that’s how! Everybody understands that!” Culture vs. Copyright, p. 2.

First graders discuss a situation when a work is free to use by the general public without restrictions. Is there anything, just anything that Beta in that passage gets wrong? Is it not obvious that he describes a normal marketplace? That is, marketplace (where books are sold) becomes normal when rights to make copies are out of picture. Let me stop here. Think of this, take your time, get used to this really simple understanding of the issue provided by first graders.

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