4 ms·

Ummm, I run a small business, and I take advantage of intellectual property rights. Of course, you have no idea who I am, so why would my rights matter to you?

jedberg 11y ago
If all the intellectual property rights went away tomorrow, would you shut down your business because it would no longer be a worthwhile endeavor? (honest question, not sarcastic)
- vlehto 11y ago
  I would not start mine.
- TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
  I know a number of devs who gave up because piracy - often justified on the basis that "copyright is teh stupid" - made it impossible for them to continue working on cool stuff and still pay the bills.
  - zimpenfish 11y ago
    But on the other anecdatal hand, there are plenty of devs who accept that piracy exists and manage just fine, e.g. Jeff Vogel http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/sometimes-its-ok-to-steal-my-games.html http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/sometimes-its-ok-to...
  - Spivak 11y ago
    And yet, it's been demonstrated again and again with Steam, Netflix, Spotify, etc. that people are willing to pay for content if the price isn't outrageous. For example, people are willing to pay for Spotify which with moderate average daily use (3 hours) is about 45 songs a day which comes out to $0.007 a song. Very few artists would be willing to admit that's how much their songs are really worth unless the listener is already a die-hard fan. Nearly every popular game on Steam can be pirated with enough effort and yet Steam sales are practically a national holiday. Piracy, like everything else has a cost, which can be beaten by good business rather than government control.
- anon4 11y ago
  Even if he did, wouldn't we be better off on the whole?
- Kim_Bruning 11y ago
  I have some idea why some people would have to shut down if copyright went away, but I have quibbles with the ethics of their business model anyway. In my case "I get paid to write that which does not exist yet", and in theory that wouldn't change much whether copyright continued to exist or not. (Abolishment immediately without warning would lead to some messy issues that don't fit in the margin of this post. The reason is simply that everyone is used to the current situation. But it'd sort itself out after a year or two. )
deleted 11y ago
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naich 11y ago
The way I see it, IP is a useful short-term tool to encourage the creation of new ideas, but if used long-term, it stifles creativity in others and takes away some of the incentive for the owner to continue creating.
- wisty 11y ago
  It's like taxes. Set them to 0% or 100%, and society can't function.

jedberg 11y ago

If all the intellectual property rights went away tomorrow, would you shut down your business because it would no longer be a worthwhile endeavor? (honest question, not sarcastic)

vlehto 11y ago
I would not start mine.
TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
I know a number of devs who gave up because piracy - often justified on the basis that "copyright is teh stupid" - made it impossible for them to continue working on cool stuff and still pay the bills.
- zimpenfish 11y ago
  But on the other anecdatal hand, there are plenty of devs who accept that piracy exists and manage just fine, e.g. Jeff Vogel http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/sometimes-its-ok-to-steal-my-games.html http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/sometimes-its-ok-to...
- Spivak 11y ago
  And yet, it's been demonstrated again and again with Steam, Netflix, Spotify, etc. that people are willing to pay for content if the price isn't outrageous. For example, people are willing to pay for Spotify which with moderate average daily use (3 hours) is about 45 songs a day which comes out to $0.007 a song. Very few artists would be willing to admit that's how much their songs are really worth unless the listener is already a die-hard fan. Nearly every popular game on Steam can be pirated with enough effort and yet Steam sales are practically a national holiday. Piracy, like everything else has a cost, which can be beaten by good business rather than government control.
anon4 11y ago
Even if he did, wouldn't we be better off on the whole?
Kim_Bruning 11y ago
I have some idea why some people would have to shut down if copyright went away, but I have quibbles with the ethics of their business model anyway. In my case "I get paid to write that which does not exist yet", and in theory that wouldn't change much whether copyright continued to exist or not. (Abolishment immediately without warning would lead to some messy issues that don't fit in the margin of this post. The reason is simply that everyone is used to the current situation. But it'd sort itself out after a year or two. )

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

naich 11y ago

The way I see it, IP is a useful short-term tool to encourage the creation of new ideas, but if used long-term, it stifles creativity in others and takes away some of the incentive for the owner to continue creating.

wisty 11y ago
It's like taxes. Set them to 0% or 100%, and society can't function.