Quote:
Originally Posted by starrigger
You think the pirate sites don't profit? Hoo, boy...
In any case, I didn't complain about the pirates, particularly, until you asked me what I thought. I said they were stealing, which I believe is true. It is also true that I don't think about them very much, and worry about them less.
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Under copyright law in the US, the copyright holder has the sole right to profit from the creation. The pirates don't.
What the pirates are doing is volunteered work, and they have no claim for compensation for volunteered work. (There is a concept called
quantum meruit under the law which does permit compensation for volunteered work, but it has a foundation in equity, which will not apply where you pirate the work in the first place.
Further, to the extent that there are any profits from the "improved" pirate version, the profits belong to the creator.
And in fact, possession of the improved pirated work is likely to be awarded to the creator if the matter were to go to court.
Bottom line - there is NO problem whatsoever in the author taking the pirated work and using it any way he wants. The pirates have no claim at all for doing something the author didn't give them permission to do.