On 4/26/06, Paul M Foster <paulf@quillandmouse.com> wrote:
> Ken Elliott wrote:
> > One other thing - according to the letter of the law, it is NOT stealing,
> > but it is copyright violation. Morally, I agree that it is stealing. The
> > difference being that the violator would be a (morally) a thief that doesn't
> > go to jail. That's why RIAA has to sue - it's a civil violation, not a
> > criminal violation. PS- IANAL...
>
> Aside from all this, it doesn't actually matter what the law
> specifically says. What matters is how courts *interpret* that law. You
> can argue the literal meaning of a law in court until you're blue in the
> face, and still lose. (This is the fault of poorly written laws and
> inept interpretation by courts.) And judging by case law, I'd say the
> court(s) would take an exceptionally dim view of making 1000 (or
> 1,000,000) copies of a music CD for your friends, gratis.
>
I would think of one had 1,000,000 actual friends, what the court
thought wouldn't matter, as you could organize a very effective
criminal network. I mean, that is literally a small army.
Now, if one made 1,000,000 copies for 1 friend, the courts would
probably not care at all.
Of course, 1,000,000 copies for perfect strangers, now that's a
copyright violation, and one would get sued.
Now, a bit of a bad analogy here, but one can call copyright
infringement "theft" at the same time one can call killing an
endangered species "murder".
Morally, this one would agree the later is murder. And the courts
would persecute.
But it is not murder, by interpretation or otherwise.
It's still a serious crime, and if one's society deems copyright
infringement to be as contemptible as theft, that is just dandy.
Here is a hastily-created Venn diagram illustrating the issue:
http://saga.hardison.net/venn.png
This one thinks copyright infringement being theft would be very bad
for copyright holders, as they would have to prove mens rea as well as
actus reus.
That is, they would have to prove *intent* as well as *action*.
Can you imagine how difficult suing someone for copyright infringement
would be if you needed to prove mens rea?
This one is not a lawyer, of course.
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