Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H.
If I write e-books and you give away copies of my e-book to people who would otherwise have purchased it, I lose money because I can't sell it to them. This is really simple point. And it is a much more important point than esoteric arguments that nonrivalrous goods aren't property.
|
Exactly. Copyright protection ensures, above all else (to me, at least), that if I create something I get first option to do with it as I wish, including profit from it. I do feel that the terms are being stretched too far and should not be extended beyond their current limits, but the idea that protections should not exist or should be limited because "corporations do bad things" in the realm of IP is definitely not something I can get on board with.
Lets look at the AT&T case. What if, instead of breaking in there, he broke into my house and stole my manuscript, copied and and sold it? Just because the law also protects corporations from the same thing and entitles them to seek the damages the same way does not make it a bad law.
It's already hard enough for the average person to enforce their copyright. We can't afford to let the existing protections be muddied for the sake of preventing corporations from acting a certain way.
I've been ripped off. It's not fun. Fortunately, a cease and desist letter written by a lawyer friend was enough to scare them, because proving damages is almost impossible in a lot of cases, if you haven't already lost your mind by the time you actually get in front of a jury.
Sorry for the rant. IP and copyright are a touchy subject for me.
Edited to fix typo.