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International Law

: Freedom to Differ

It doesn't matter what you call it

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Last month Brendan Scott posted to his blog an argument that it was incorrect to label copyright infringement as stealing:

There is a copyright-infringement-as-stealing meme which has been pushed for some time, but seems to be relentlessly marketed at the moment. So, for the benefit of those being exposed to it, it?s appropriate to consider what the law actually says about the meaning of words like ?stealing? and ?theft? and whether it?s possible for a copyright infringement to fall within the meaning of these terms.
...
Infringement does not appear to fit the meaning of stealing or theft because an infringement does not involve either a taking or a deprivation. Further, intangible rights seem almost impossible to steal by definition. To use the infringement-as-stealing meme demonstrates something of a lack of respect for language and consequently a lack of respect for the people to whom you are speaking.

Read more here.

I find it hard to agree with Brendan's argument as you can relatively easily conceptualise copyright infringement as a taking. This is because, as a result of the infringing act, the copyright owner loses - or is deprived of - the financial reward they are entitled to and would receive if the infringer had lawfully purchased the work.

However apart from the fact that I find Brendan's analysis somewhat simplistic, it also completely misses the point. It doesn't matter whether you call copyright infringement stealing or something entirely different, the point is that copyright infringement is wrong. It is against the law. That is why the entertainment industries use the infringement-as-stealing meme - it is to emphasise to the public that copyright infringement is wrong. To that end I have no problem with the entertainment industries using the infringement-as-stealing meme to highlight to the public that copyright infringement is unlawful.

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on November 01, 2008 (boomark / email).