Pirates versus Profits
05-19-10
Thanks to Nicolas Chartier of Voltage Pictures, one of the producers of the Oscar winning picture THE HURT LOCKER, suing pirates has become the hot topic once again. This entertainment war between the makers of films and the audience who don’t pay to watch them, is about to go to another level.
Being a creator of entertainment products, I am a firm believer in copyright and making a living from one’s art/work. It takes quite a bit of time to write a screenplay and even more to produce it. You wouldn’t want to produce something you made and then not be able to earn fair market value from it so you can exist and continue to do what you love.
I don’t go into a store and borrow/steal things because I know that it ain’t worth getting caught. Aside from the fine there is the criminal record which is worse than any monetary loss. Is it fair to sue someone if they buy a DVD of their favorite movie or a CD of a great band and lend it to a friend? In this case I don’t believe they are a pirate. They are not making a profit from this transaction. You can sue them (you can sue anybody these days for almost anything) but it is unlikely you will win.
It is my opinion, that to solve this piracy problem, go after those websites that upload copyright material illegally and ensure they can not offer people to download this material. Are they not the ones who are breaching the creators copyright? This makes more sense and could be achieved by getting the Internet Providers to ensure this is not being done. Sure it is a complicated and expensive process, but suing someone for thousands of dollars because they (may or may not) have stolen a DVD/CD off the internet is not proportional to the crime. If you stole an item from a store the fine is directly related to the worth of the item stolen and again, the criminal record is the worse part.
The entertainment industry needs to go after those that offer their goods online - not the viewers. I have bought the Beatles White Album too many times and copied it from record to cassette tape then to CD and MP3 digital files. I also will be lending my cassette of Alice Cooper tunes to a friend - does that make me a Pirate? Or him?
I shake my head and wonder how all this will play out. Either way, hope you all are rocking to good tunes and enjoying great movies because it is what helps make life worth living! Mind you, if you do come across one of my entertainment products - please pay for it. lol
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