Hi all, On Tue, 10 Aug 2010, Reinier Battenberg wrote:
> Would kyle not just be bending the definition just like the IP lawyers > are bending the damage caused by illegal downloading to say, 50.000USD > per song? I agree with Kyle. I don't think he's bending the definition of anything. Saying that intellectual property rights infringement (IRPI) is not the same as theft, is not the same as saying that it's right or OK or moral. Murder and blackmail are not theft, but most people still consider them to be morally wrong, and they are illegal in most countries. They are covered by different laws and have different penalties than theft. Infringement is also not theft and is covered by different laws (or few or no laws in some countries) with different penalties. I think the introduction of copyright laws in most countries has more to do with the WTO, the TRIPS treaty and pressure from major content producing nations, rather than local artists or content producers: "TRIPS requires member states to provide strong protection for intellectual property rights." http://www.google.co.uk/url?q=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agreement_on_Trade-Related_Aspects_of_Intellectual_Property_Rights%23The_requirements_of_TRIPS&usg=AFQjCNFdbyrQFnKPUkQf-P0bkhlIm-6EPg&sa=X&ei=WhxhTLiCEpH80wSvkIyECQ&ved=0CC0QygQ Many African governments are unfortunately not well known for listening to their citizens and addressing their concerns. I'm personally ambivalent about intellectual property protection. While I can see that it has some value to private individuals, it seems to be more valuable to mega-corporations, and it robs the public domain to create that value. We ought to ask ourselves whether the cost to the public outweights the benefits to the public, and whether such laws are really "in the public good". Especially as copyright has been repeatedly stretched (extended) until reaching, in the USA, 75 years after the author's death, at which point funding and encouraging the author to create new works is somewhat moot. Cheers, Chris. -- Aptivate | http://www.aptivate.org | Phone: +44 1223 760887 The Humanitarian Centre, Fenner's, Gresham Road, Cambridge CB1 2ES Aptivate is a not-for-profit company registered in England and Wales with company number 04980791. _______________________________________________ LUG mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------
