Piracy not theft because its a copy..

[richardhutnik]

Ok, I am glad someone started this thread. I was looking to start a thread on this, so now I can use this one.

When an industry has to deal with piracy, it is dealing with being stiffed on work they did. A person who repeatedly has stuff done for the them, that they don't compensate work being done is a mooch and a leech, denying people who work on something compensation for labor.

Now we get to the theft part. Besides deny people compensation for work done, you add the intellectual properties argument. When individuals create intellectual property, they create a licensing agreement upon which the material can be viewed and/or used. If the terms say, "We must be paid before you can view/read/watch/play/etc..." then if you violate this contract you are engaged in a violation of property rights of the owner. And this violation can be theft, in the area of intellectual property. Industrial spying involves going into somewhere, and making copies of intellectual property. This making a copy is called "theft". Transfer of ownership of property without permission of the owner, is theft. So, piracy is theft.

Of course, intellectual property lives and dies by how much if spreads. Information wants to be free and go all over. The key for society, and the creators of intellectual property, is to hit the right balance so their creation is spread all over, and they are properly compensated.