Copyright Infringement - Case Study Example

ISSUES SURROUNDING SOFTWARE PIRACY AND DOWNLOADING OF COPYRIGHT MATERIALS By This paper will mainlyshed more light on software piracy and copy right infringement. It will discuss legal, Ethical and moral arguments that support or discredit software piracy. It will also highlight the dangers of pirating to the global economy. Software piracy is a serious global problem that needs to be addressed so that intellectual integrity is maintained. Reasons that people give for pirating software will also be discussed. The paper will also give a conclusion of the major issues that will be discussed herein. Introduction Copy right infringement refers to use of copy righted material without the permission of the owner (Drahos, 2001). It includes infringing onto exclusive rights of owners of softwares. Intellectual property law protects innovations such as software and other intellectual properties such as trademarks. The law gives owners of intellectual property exclusive rights to produce, sell, perform and make subsequent copies of intellectual property. Business Software Alliance names various types of piracy. The major forms include hard disk loading, using non-commercial software for commercial use, infringement of compact discs, counterfeiting, soft lifting and internet infringement (Limayem et al 2004). Arguments for Software Piracy People argue that using commercial software for non-commercial purposes is ethically correct. This is justified ethically, morally and economically (Gupta, 2004). Under US law one can own four components of software namely, the algorithm, the object code, the source code and user interface yet these are part of a copy right. People who support software privacy often quote John Locke who implied that a man could have all he desired as long as he left enough for others. If one pours a beverage in the ocean, he cannot be said to own the whole ocean by his action. Therefore, the mere act of someone using his labour doesn’t mean he should own it (Depken II et al, 2004). To do so would leave nothing for others to use. The US court system has seriously defended intellectual property and copy right. In Galoob vs. Nintendo and Sega vs. Accolade the court upheld the four parts of software packages earlier mentioned and software piracy was out-ruled. However in the 1984 case of Sony Betamax, the supremacy of copy right was overthrown (Lardner, 1987). Sony was accused by Walt Disney and other Hollywood movie production firms for trying to sell the first VCR ever to be produced (Lardner, 1987). The court ruled in favour of Sony and allowed them (machines) to be put on sale. The reasons sighted were that non-commercial copying is just and by allowing the videos to be aired on televisions, movie productions knew that the viewers would freely get the videos. Judge Samuelson said that Betamax case ruling has indicated that private non-commercial copying should be presumed to be fair and no infringing ((Lardner, 1987). Therefore, the Betamax case was ruled in Sony’s favour. This means that Sony was not punished. Some people think that by pirating, they are only hurting big businesses. This is often a very misplaced perception. Software pirating is a global problem that may hinder innovation and thus stagnate global economic development. By hurting the major businesses as they put it, they run the risk of having that business close down. Major businesses such as Microsoft supply technological solutions globally. Software piracy therefore will affect all the countries that receive these services and lead to serious global economic problems Moores & Trevor, 2008). There are different ways of obtaining copy righted materials. There is thus a thin line that separates software integrity and pirating (Hinduja, 2001). Some creators have allowed online downloading to copy righted materials. The major question this raises is whether it is considered pirating to make a copy of a downloaded software and then distribute it to others. Other legal programs such as Peer2Peer technologies facilities file sharing amongst online communities. The users may then distribute this software to others for viewing. Some software is also given as free samples for trials. Is it pirating to give a friend a free software sample to try out? Such issues surrounding software piracy make it easier for people to subconsciously commit copy right infringement (Higgins et al, 2005). Arguments against Software Piracy Economic argument against software pirating advances that innovation will not occur where there is no capital incentives to support it. Software piracy denies the owners revenue that would be obtained from genuine sales. If copies were allowed, no sales and thus profits would be made. People would not see any incentive to be innovative. Bill Gates once said that a lot of people steal their software, and as a result innovators are discouraged to come up with new softwares (Husted, 2000). While some software are freely produced and distributed such as the open source software movement, the other commercial software should be used for commercial purposes and users should obtain a licence to continue using them (Hill & Charles, 2007). BSA and International Data Corporations did a research that produced interesting results about effects of software piracy on global markets. . A decrease in software pirating by only 4% could create more that 2.4 million jobs! The logic of it is that rampart pirating will hinder investors from investing in a country. This will hinder technological development and lead to economic stagnation. The estimated expenditure on software over the next 4 years is $300 billion dollars. Of this amount, $200 billion dollars will be lost to piracy leaving a net of $ 100 billion dollars only. The summation effects of reduction in piracy, an increase of employment and potential tax returns give a global net-worth of $400 million dollars (Kini, 2004). In 2009, Business Software Alliance (BSA) did a global annual report on effects of piracy on global economies. The study involved 110 countries and global piracy rates was 43%. By upholding an assumption that every instance of piracy leads to an economic lose, the world lost 51 billion dollars in year 2009. The piracy loss increased by 2% in 2009 and the economic loss increased by 3%. Countries that were worse affected included US and Europe (Marron et al, 2007). These two being major economies in the world had a profound effect on the economic state of the world (Lau, 2003). The ethical argument against copy right infringement raises some questions. If software pirating is a good practice, what would stop other people from stealing items such as car using the same logic? (Hinduja, 2003) Is stealing not just stealing despite the methods used? If people resell pirated software to protect the consumer, why don’t they return the profit obtained to the software owners? A common misplaced feeling is priding oneself in that you have never bought a genuine software version e.g. Windows Vista, yet the user is criticizing the software. It is morally and ethically unacceptable to pirate a software then criticize it (Hinduja, 2001). Another ethical and moral standard used to reject support for software piracy is the ethical concept of no free lunch (Hsu, 2008). This concept argues that there are no free things in life. It advances that everything belongs to someone and one has to work hard to obtain whatever it is they need. Software should therefore be purchased and proper licensing obtained before they can be used. It is morally wrong to pirate a software just because there are open avenues to do so (Depken II et al, 2004). Everyone should enjoy what they have worked for tirelessly. That is the basic concept of a free and just society that is morally upright (Gopal et al, 1998). Conclusion Copy right infringement is a social, and economic crime against intellectual property. It may come in different forms majorly hard disk loading, counterfeiting, network loading and use of non-commercial software for commercial use. Different reasons are given that supporting this infringement. The notion that official versions of software are very expensive, availability of different ways of piracy and the notion that only the major companies will be hurt are some of those reasons. Economic reasons against software piracy given include stagnating global economies and hindering innovation. Ethically, pirating is wrong as it may encourage other forms of theft. Glossary Software piracy: is the unlawful reproduction or use of a software that has not been licensed. BSA: This is a software alliance that deals with issues of software piracy and its mitigation factors Intellectual property: This refers to intangible products that are developed through mental creativity such as software, literary work and trademarks. Copy right law: This is legal law that protects against infringement of intellectual property rights Intellectual property rights: These are exclusive rights given to owners of intellectual property to use it at their own free will. References Depken II, Craig.A ve Lee C. Simmons (2004), Social construct and the propensity for software piracy, Applied Economic Letters, 11, 97-101. Drahos, Peter ve John Braithwaite. (2001). Intellectual property, corporate strategy, and globalisation: TRIPS in context. Wisconsin International Law Journal 20, 3, 451-480. Gopal, Ram D. ve G. 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