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Should Piracy Be Legalized? - Excerpts from E-debate

Jun. 28, 2020   •   anshu sharma

Copyright Infringements occur mostly in the form of piracy. Due to the technological advancements, it is now even easier to download any pirated content and circulate it among people without getting traced. Different countries have come up with some laws to stop piracy and track the offenders. But there are two sides of a coin. There are some countries that do not provide bold sanctions for piracy. Switzerland (among some countries) does not penalize piracy as long as the pirated content is being personally used.

Since it is very difficult to curb piracy in its entirety, can legalizing it be a better decision?

Thus, on 18th June 2020, Niti Manthan’s research team working on the study- “Intellectual Property Right Infringements in Cyberspace” conducted an e-debate on the same topic and measured both sides on the same weighing scale.

The team was divided into two groups, and excerpts of arguments presented from both sides are mentioned below:

The question that is being put forward for both sides under the umbrella of our main topic is that, when infringements of copyright in the form of Piracy is concerned, imposing sanctions alone is not efficient as tracing the offender is a difficult task. However, analysing the reasons behind people preferring pirated content over original one, and curbing them might be helpful. Can legalizing piracy be a better solution?

IN FAVOUR OF THE MOTION

Radhika-

Copyright infringement is basically a victimless crime as it doesn’t harm anyone.

Its malum prohibitum i.e. it does not cause any real harm to anyone however it’s merely illegal. For example- jaywalking.

Piracy produces advantage and benefits for many and disadvantage to only few.

For example I pirated a music CD for myself from the original CD. Now, in theory, this would cause loss to the copyrighter of the CD but what is the guarantee that I would’ve bought the CD if I had not pirated it?

So technically no loss occurred to the copyrighter.

Information of public importance such as scientific research and social researches should not be copyrighted as no one should have a control on knowledge based on facts and data.

In 2014, a group with alleged ties to North Korea protested the imminent release of the action-adventure-comedy, The Interview.

Their chosen method, however, was unique and largely unprecedented. They chose to target the production company, Sony, and deter them by leaking a large dump of their personal files, including five unreleased and upcoming films.

While Sony set aside $15 million to deal with the legal and security ramifications, the effect on the business that the movies actually did was none too alarming. The biggest of the titles, a Brad Pitt vehicle called Fury, was downloaded over 3.5 million times in just five days – and yet went on to become a hit with an 85-million-dollar gross.

Piracy should be legal as not everyone can afford to go to the cinema or buy a particular software to learn the skill.

Anshika-

The things that are highly pirated are movies, TV shows, computer software, etc.

Piracy is desirable because not everyone can afford to purchase a computer software in order to learn a skill, or watch movies in theatres or on online streaming websites like Netflix, Hotstar, etc.

So, the main reason why people use pirated copies is simply that they can’t afford it. Now, Money should not act as an obstacle. It should not be the determining factor to decide whether a person can learn a skill or not.

Then, there’s this famous phrase- “Sharing is Caring”. Sharing is morally right. Sharing is the reason why humankind has evolved and developed over the years. It is also very important for the development of a country or an individual.

Hence, in order to make things more accessible and ensure free transmission of knowledge and information, Piracy should be legalised.

Chanda-

Piracy has made the content more accessible to people who can’t afford it.

It has actually boosted the popularity of content just by virtue of them being pirated. For example, the makers of the hit show Game of Thrones admitted that the show has been the most torrented or pirated show ever, across the world but has had no effects on viewership.

The Director claims that it makes the show ‘thrive’. Backing him up, Time Warner Brothers CEO said piracy leads to more paying subscriptions as well. What also boosted the popularity of Game of Thrones was the websites hosting pirated episodes of the show actually subtitled them in regional languages. So that actually enable it to reach a larger audience.

In many cases, people resort to piracy as a response to arbitrary restrictions which hinder the freedom of speech and expression of the creator himself/herself. The restrictions may be quoted as the content “hurting religious sentiments” or being of “immoral or indecent in nature” and other such umbrella terms. Example- Salman’s Rushdie’s Satanic Verses or movies like Lipstick under My Burkha or books that were purely for entertainment purposes like Fifty Shades of Grey.

One of the major concerns with piracy is that it affects the economic rights associated with the title of copyright. The fact here is that there is no credible data to back up the fact that piracy results in the loss of revenue. People resort to piracy or consuming pirated content due to the price factor- so there is no logic in saying they would have otherwise legally bought the content if pirated content was not already out there. That would only reduce the overall viewership of that piece of content. There are some examples as to how piracy has not any correlation to revenue in the case of movies. Avatar is the most pirated movie but it’s also the highest-grossing movie ever in the history of movies.

Suchandra-

People have been sharing movies, music and other sorts of media for past many years, even before the internet. The advent of Internet makes it even easier to share information.

Piracy is not theft as theft involves taking away the original things.

Piracy should be legal because more people can benefit from it.

Software piracy is highly common in poor countries. This happens because they cannot afford to pay the actual price for legitimate softwares and licenses.

AGAINST THE MOTION

Tavishi-

Pirated content hampers welfare and can be disastrous. It carries a significant amount of malware. The free content/music/film/video is thus used as bait, with malicious intent. This can infect the computer and hand over the control of your PC to some other person. Therefore, your financial records, passwords and other data are in jeopardy. This threatens safety. According to the news published in Economic times, 2019 was the year of cyber-attack for India. India was among the top nations which were under attack by the latest ransomware.

We must talk also about the harm that is not only financial harm. Piracy causes damage in this respect as the author or creator creates the makes that thing to make sales. But there is other harm and damage too. The right to copyright is not just a right to make copies and sell. It grants the right to exclusivity. This means that infringement causes the taking away of the right to decide who may take their original work and how.

Therefore, I am against the legalization of Piracy.

- This is for welfare, not only in the digital world but to other people as well in the larger spectrum.

- This will help boost – investment, incentive and innovation.

- And also, theft should not be legalized. The lack of remuneration, credit and right to artists, creators should not be legalized.

Arush Mittal-

The fact cannot be ignored that piracy is stealing as you use the product of the developer without taking his permission. The hard work of the creator and the other concerned people is ignored and the rights of the owner are badly affected by piracy. If piracy continues the developer would not feel like making a new product (website, tv shows, etc.) as his hard work would be utilised by the people at a very low cost or no cost at all. It is a kind of theft. Therefore, Piracy should be criminalized instead of legalized.

Pooja Kateel-

Firstly, if piracy exists, there exist no Intellectual Property Rights. Intellectual Property is intangible property and piracy of the same is the same as stealing something from someone’s home. Secondly, pirating content creates no incentive for creators, by leaving them with no remuneration for the content that they created, and hence how the creators would eventually lose interest in investing so much and creating content. Thirdly, just because there is no loss to someone it doesn’t mean stealing something from them is right or justified. Using piracy to save yourself some money is not the right thing to do and hence, piracy shall not be legalized.

Palak Kohli-

Piracy, due to its ease and anonymity may seem like a victimless crime, but it actually is not. Firstly, the protection of IPR is now a threat and it creates a huge divide between the producers and consumers. This is because piracy costs everyone and not just the creator. This can be seen, when the manufacturer is likely to raise the prices if enough copies are not sold, and hence the legitimate viewers fall prey and end up paying the raised cost. Secondly, piracy is a huge barrier to market growth and the economy by reducing sales and causing loss of jobs. Thirdly, legalising piracy would cannibalise the legitimate viewers, because then everyone will move towards it, because who doesn’t like free lunches! Lastly, there are various risks of malware caused by downloading pirated content in our devices, which we tend to ignore and negate completely.

Shivangi-

Piracy is morally wrong and it also has implications on cybersecurity. Creativity is affected at a large extent due to piracy in the long run. Producers spend time and money with no return and the legal sales of the movie get cut as well. And thus piracy curbs innovation and creation. Pirates and their activity promotes more piracy as those who are paying would also want it for free. Piracy is not theft but it is stealing and thus it should not be legalized in any way.

Jeetu-

Piracy refers to the unauthorized duplication of copyrighted content that is then sold at substantially lower prices in the 'grey' market. The ease of access to technology has meant that over the years, piracy has become more rampant. For example, CD writers are available off the shelf at very low prices, making music piracy a simple affair.

Piracy negatively affects every single person working in these industries and their supply chains. There is less money to invest in new software, developing music artists, and movies. There is less work for developers, testers, sound engineers, videographers, actors, scriptwriters, musicians, assistants, set designers, security guards, stores, salespeople, website developers and every other type of person who goes into creating, packaging, advertising, distributing, supporting, promoting or reviewing these products and services.

Piracy is a kind of theft. There are very clear laws about what people can and cannot do with purchased content. Generally, purchasing content means you are allowed to listen, play, read, or use that content yourself. It does not give you the right to copy it, share it, trade it, let others download it or make money off of it for yourself, like buying a movie and then charging people to come see it. Copying software or digital content without permission of the content creator is stealing.

Moreover, India is one of the few countries that have multiple dominant box office film industries, in Bollywood, Hollywood, and Tollywood. As such, piracy is a much more dominant force considering there is a lot more material to pirate which the local audience would be interested in. Internet users often use VPNs to visit torrent sites which host songs, games, movies and the like. Local vendors at technological hubs often carry compact discs with pirated movies and games, which are sold at cheap prices. Modding video game hardware to play pirated discs is also a booming industry in India. Therefore, piracy should not be legalized.


Participants of the debate (In alphabetical order):

Anshika Bansal

Arush Mittal

Chanda

Jeetu Kanwar

Palak Kohli

Pooja Kateel

Radhika Anand

Shivangi Sharma

Suchandra Mukherjee

Tavishi Jain

Coordinators: Anshu Sharma and Kratika Saxena


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