The debate on whether online piracy is theft took an interesting turn recently after Chris Dodd, the Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association (MPAA), said that the industry is “on the wrong track if we describe this [online piracy] as thievery”.
Dodd alluded to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the US during an interview, saying that Facebook and Twitter campaigned effectively against the legislation on grounds that the new laws would impede the free flow of information on the Internet.
“We’re in a transformative [sic] period with an explosion of technology that’s going to need content,” he said. “We’re going to have to be more subtle and consumer-oriented. We’re on the wrong track if we describe this as thievery,” Dodd said.
Piracy is not theft in South Africa
This debate in the US coincides with recent campaigns in South Africa which also describe piracy as theft.
Copyright expert and senior legal manager at PWC, Dr. Tobias Schonwetter, said that online piracy is not theft.
“Theft is defined in South Africa ‘as the unlawful and intentional appropriation of movable, corporeal property which belongs to or is in possession of another with the intention to permanently deprive the person entitled to the possession of the property of such property’,” explained Schonwetter.
“When copying copyright protected materials that belong to somebody else, the person owning the material is not deprived of ownership,” said Schonwetter.
Lance Michalson from Michalson’s Attorneys agrees, saying that piracy does not fall under the definition of theft. “It is the infringement of intellectual property rights,” said Michalson.
Schonwetter did however point out that an argument can be made that while the owner is not deprived of ownership, he or she is deprived of the benefits of ownership; i.e. the financial exploitation of the material. “This is why the result is very similar to theft,” said Schonwetter.
Piracy and theft
Be sure to weigh in with your opinion in the comments below and on the MyGaming forum.
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I do think it’s wrong to a certain degree. You can’t stop it. But it’s a great way for artists to tap into newer markets. I remember as kids we used to record songs off the radio on mix tapes – and try to get as much of the song, but cut of the radio dj. That was a way I heard different types of music my other friends were into. Now that I’m older and although you can download mp3s from the net or even buy dvds at our traffic lights, I prefer to have an “original” of all my favorite CDs and DVDs. It’s a mindset, and you can’t change every person, but people are slowly educating themselves and over time many of us “pirates” buy the real deal. Theft? What about all of us that are getting robbed by the “system”, taxes and expensive telecoms pricing? I’d say that’s theft, but that’s a different topic!