Unauthorized Uses aka Piracy

“Piracy” is...

The unauthorized copying, distribution and selling of copyrighted works

Is “piracy” theft?

Rivalrous v. Non-rivalrous?

Piracy is a Crime

Punk Capitalism (Mason)

Punk Capitalism Cont'd

• Punk is:

– DIY

– rejecting authority

– participatory culture (read/write)

– Appropriation

– subverting the mainstream

– Empowering everyday people

• Not a rock concert, not mass media, not one-way

“It's how inefficient systems are replaced” ~Mason (p. 67)

• A pirate is: a bootlegger and a guardian of free speech

• Pirates make industries more efficient

• Society benefits from pirates: access granted (makes communication “democratic”)

• Piracy creates choice and change laws

• Piracy creates NEW markets

• “By thinking like pirates, people grow niche audiences to a critical mass and change the mainstream from the bottom up.” (Mason p. 67)

Bit Torrent v. Central Location?

Infringement

• Civil= $150,000 per infringement– Innocent (didn't know you were infringing)

– Ordinary (you kinda knew you were infringing)

– Willful (you knew and tried to make $)

– $200/ for Innocent and up to $150K/ Willful

• Statutory per work (must be © registered) or actual damages (have to prove actual damages caused by the infringement )

• You can be punished for both criminal ( $250k and up to 5-10 years) and civil infringement

• Court is RARE!!! Mostly settlements. Jail is VERY rare

Courts Will Look at...

• Purpose: bootlegging CDs or make a copy for a friend

• Value: $1 MP3 or an expensive software

• Infringer's state of mind: did you know it was infringement?

• Offering uploads or seeding is clearly infringement; downloading less-so

• Allowed 1 digital copy of any “analog” good you own with copyrighted content on it

Tenacious D

Let's Terminate Piracy

“Piracy” ESTIMATES

• 1 of 5 pieces of software in US are unlicensed

– 42% of software used globally is unlicensed

– -$59B

• Hollywood/TV: $6-$10B

• Music industry: $12.5B in sales, -70K jobs= -$2B in wages

– $7B US market; $15B global market

– 95% of music downloaded is unauthorized

– Average iPod has $800 in “pirated” music

Copyright Math

• MPAA= US economy loses $58B to copyright theft

– Actual economic losses (not just value)

– Lose 370K jobs to “piracy”

• Congress has said the losses are $200B-$250B and 750K jobs

• How do we come up with these numbers???

Protectors/Enforcers

Not a Big Deal?

What Do the Boys Tell Us?

Types of Downloaders

• A) Download instead of buy

• B) Download to sample before they buy

• C) To get access to content not commercially available

• D) To get access to content that owners make available

• Likely most, though, is A (DJ food stamp, 2015)

Lessig

• “the history of the content industry is a history of piracy.” (p. 53, Free Culture)

– Film, Recorded Music, Radio, Cable, CD? Home Movie market?

• “The radio station thus gets to pirate the value of Madonna's work without paying her.” (p.59)

• In America “We were born, in this sense, a pirate nation.” (p. 63) *we didn't respect the copyright of other countries!!!

• Non-rivalrous v. rivalrous??? Theft v. piracy?

“The law turns the intangible into property.” (Lessig p. 84)