Why Copyright Infringement is a touchy subject?

While discussing cases of copyright infringement over a dinner meeting the other night, I was told that when such cases go public and pushes thru in the courts, it becomes a sensitive issue — it’s because all of us have committed some copyright infringement of some sort at one time or another.

I never looked at it that way but it does make sense. We go thru some of the more common stuff we do everyday without knowing we’re actually doing the same. I’d be the first one to admit to some of these oversights.

The MP3s we download, the movies and TV shows we share on torrents and P2P networks are a common form of piracy. Filipinos are very fond of sharing digital content, even way back in the days of the IRC.
The pirated CDs and DVDs sold in Quiapo, Baclaran and other smaller malls. We either patronize them or just ignore them as if it’s normal and legit in our society. We never cried foul because we know we benefit from it (not until it’s own work that’s being peddled and used without compensation or attribution).
The softwares we use on our PCs and laptops — Windows XP, MS Office, Adobe PhotoShop, WinZip/WinRar, Nero CD/DVD Burner, Kaspersky Anti-Virus are just some of the more commonly pirated softwares a lot of people use.
People flock Cartimar to buy fake branded shoes, hand bags and clothes.

There are a lot more actually — inks, batteries, cellphones, perfumes, jewelries, etc.

But what can we do — either we accept that we’re a country full of freeloaders/cheapskates or we start paying for those software licenses and buy only originals. I’d prefer we do the latter.

I believe piracy did some good to a lot of people (especially those who don’t have the capacity to afford some of the more expensive licenses). I personally benefited from it too — learning how to use PhotoShop, Flash, DreamWeaver and Premiere as well as program in VB and .NET.

I would be hard-pressed to stand in court, point to someone who infringed on my copyright and not admit I do the same thing myself.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

22 Comments

deuts says:

16 years ago

He, who have not sinned, cast the first stone.
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Patrick says:

16 years ago

Everyone is a pirate these days. But I’ve been starting to use freeware alternatives now, if I can.
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Jay says:

16 years ago

i vote for linux!
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-anton- says:

16 years ago

we should remember how some of today’s progressive countries made it good. (Japan, Korea, etc.) They did copyright infringement to the most of their abilities-> technology. SO sometimes it’s good to do for the cause of the country (If it’s organized)
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jhay says:

16 years ago

Anton has a point. The reason piracy still lives on is because of the restrictive IP laws that hamper the transfer of technology from first-world countries to developing nations, forcing the latter to just copy or make rip-offs of the former’s technologies, products etc.

We may want to use licensed software, etc. but the costs of it are just too much for us. We try to develop our own technologies but they step in again via unfair trade rules and practices.
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eric says:

16 years ago

ninakawan na naman ako photos ulit sa dinagyang…

http://www.byahilo.com/2009/01/28/panay-news-used-my-photos-without-my-permission/
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Shrumster says:

16 years ago

Actually, that first stone thingy doesn’t (and shouldn’t) apply. A convicted murder still has the right not to be murdered. Doesn’t matter how many people he killed. It’s just right and just.

On the topic of copyright infringement though, when it comes to software, games and movies, I’m mostly on the side of the pirates when considering the local market. Most, if not all of these products are priced for first-world markets, and those that normally buy the pirated versions wouldn’t be able to effectively afford the originals even if they wanted to. (I say “effectively afford” as in, a guy who earns 20k a month can’t afford to buy a 19k sandwich. Sure, he actually can, but there goes the rest of his life.) And yes, there’s always the “if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it” argument…but then again, that solves nothing. A product, no matter how illegal it may be, has been provided and said person can afford *that*.
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BrianB says:

16 years ago

Yuga, are you saying since every politician cheats no politician should be punished for cheating even with incontrovertible evidence?

Lesson is, it may not be a mortal sin but there should be protection for copyright holders and control for copyright violators.

Eric, oo nga. dapat talagang i-educate taga mainstream media.
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Bravemonkey says:

16 years ago

BrianB I think it’s the opposite.
Since every politician cheats… to hell with them all :)
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madzman23 says:

16 years ago

Well for me, I think this is just a matter of survival.
Lets face it, we’re part of a 3rd world country and most of us cant afford or spent our money to those licensed software. We would rather spent it to our basic need than to buy those copyright which we can have for free. I know piracy is not right but the price for licenses are also not right, everyone should have the right to learn and exist in this generation. Common guyz, most of us professionals and tech guru uses pirated software and we learned from it and yet we can compete from the other tech gurus from the top countries in the world. Using that advantage is just one of a surviving ingenuity of Filipino and other 3rd world country. :D
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