logo

Against Monopoly

defending the right to innovate

Monopoly corrupts. Absolute monopoly corrupts absolutely.





Copyright Notice: We don't think much of copyright, so you can do what you want with the content on this blog. Of course we are hungry for publicity, so we would be pleased if you avoided plagiarism and gave us credit for what we have written. We encourage you not to impose copyright restrictions on your "derivative" works, but we won't try to stop you. For the legally or statist minded, you can consider yourself subject to a Creative Commons Attribution License.


back

A celebration

Crosbie has a nice post. Here's to piracy.

Comments

Thanks David! :)

On the subject of Piracy, here's a recent paper:

The Framing of 'Piracy': Etymology, Lobbying & Policy

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1392914

K. Matthew Dames Copycense

April 21, 2009

Abstract: "Piracy" is a term that has become a central part of the American lexicon about intellectual property. Various individuals and institutions - including newspapers and lobbyists; politicians and policy analysts - use the term as a synonym for intellectual property infringement generally, and, more specifically, copyright infringement. For example, the Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA") and the Motion Picture Association of America ("MPAA"), a pair of the most prominent entertainment industry lobbying organizations in the United States, claim routinely that "piracy" is the primary reason why revenue and profits in their respective industries have dropped precipitously in the past decade. Similarly, the Business Software Association routinely claims in its annual "Piracy Study" that its industry loses billions of dollars annually to "piracy."

In a forthcoming study, the author will argue, among other things, that the entertainment industry lobbyists' framing of "piracy" is inconsistent with the term's original meaning. The result is that concerns over "piracy" serve as the questionable basis for passing laws and enacting copyright-related policies that have led to an increase in restrictive and imbalanced copyright law, both within and outside the United States.

The purpose of this paper, however, is more modest. Here, the author presents an etymology of the term "piracy," demonstrating that the historical and primary definitions of "piracy" have little to do with infringement or intellectual property.


Submit Comment

Blog Post

Name:

Email (optional):

Your Humanity:

Prove you are human by retyping the anti-spam code.
For example if the code is unodosthreefour,
type 1234 in the textbox below.

Anti-spam Code
UnoSevenZeroEight:


Post



   

Most Recent Comments

A Texas Tale of Intellectual Property Litigation (A Watering Hole Patent Trolls) Aunque suena insignificante, los números son alarmantes y nos demuestran que no es tan mínimo como

James Boyle's new book with his congenial IP views free to download

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1

French firm has patents on using computers to choose medical treatment 1