Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
So would you say that counterfeiting is OK if the bills are indistinguishable from those produced by the legitimate sovereign printer? I would say it is equally wrong.
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No, it's still wrong because they're still not legal tender. It can be 100% identical, but unless they're authorised by the mint, they're not legal tender and at some point someone will be screwed over when serial numbers are found to be duplicates. Even if you assume they somehow manage to also grab a set of unique serials, you're still potentially flooding the market with more money than should exist.
If someone sells a book via Amazon and makes out it's the real book when it's actually just an infringing copy, then imo that would be akin to counterfeiting. People are buying something that isn't the real thing. This can devalue the market for the real item.
If someone uploads a book to a site and doesn't make any pretence that it's legit/authorised, then it's copyright infringement. Arguably this also devalues the real items market since it's available for free, but, it makes no difference to the real market for people who are honest and _want_ to buy the real thing and not a knock off.
I see the two as different. Both harmful but in different ways.