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Contents 1 General 2 Historical examples of piracy 3 Acts of piracy 4 Copyright covers 5 Copyright is supposed to be about 6 Copyrights do not 7 Copyright currently achieves

General

• According to a recent Harvard study, weaker copyright benefits society 1.
• Harvard encourages all schools join them in rejecting letters threatening legal action against students for file sharing 2.
• The decline in music sales correlates much more with other factors like the increase of video game sales 3.
• As record label profits have been falling, artist incomes have steadily risen 4.
• Those who download illegally spend more money on music than those who don't 5.
• Illegally downloaded songs do not translate into lost purchases or stolen profits yet we still see downright fabricated figures 6.
• It would cost approximately $26000 to legally fill a 160GB iPod.

Historical examples of piracy

• Thomas Edison was accused of being a pirate with the invention of the phonographic record player which was thought would replace live performances but instead the record industry was born which helped the live music industry.
• Companies who provide medicine to poorer countries ignore the patents of big pharmaceutical corporations.
• The movie industry is even the result of piracy by film makers who moved from New York to Hollywood to avoid license fees.
• The United States of America was only able to grow during the Industrial Revolution by ignoring intellectual property, which is why Europeans called us Yankees (from a Dutch slang term for "pirates").

Acts of piracy

A list of acts considered to be piracy that are widespread and harmless.

• Photocopied a page from a textbook
• Shared a song with a friend
• Wrote a story using characters or settings in an existing book or movie
• Singing "Happy Birthday" in public

Copyright covers

• Every picture you've ever taken
• Every doodle on a napkin
• Any specific expression of an idea, unless stated otherwise

Copyright is supposed to be about

Promoting creativity, originality and the creation of new art.

Copyrights do not

• Reward creativity and originality
• Give credit to creators
• Protect the income of artists

Copyright currently achieves

• Preserving a monopoly over the right to reproduce a protected work
• Allowing major record labels and film studios to control the industry at the expense of both consumers

and creators.

• Giving corporations and corrupt organizations such as Scientology a means to censor information
• Hindering innovation and creativity at the expense of the producers and consumers for the financial gain of middle men