SEIV is being Pirated

[BeeDee10]

For more detailed information on copyright as it currently exists, see the FAQ at the following address: http://web.mit.edu/cwis/copyright/faq.html

It looks pretty good to me. However, since the law is mutable and life+50 is a _long_ time, don't make any plans based on the assumption that you can just wait until 2070 or thereabouts (depending on when Aaron dies) to start distributing your own copies of SEIV. The duration of copyright protection has been steadily lengthened in recent years, thanks in large part to intensive lobbying by wealthy hollywood interests who do not want their old characters and movies to start entering the public domain (see "Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act", http://www.law.asu.edu/HomePages/Kar...ightExtension/).
Copyright protection originally Lasted a _maximum_ of 28 years. I think rolling back the duration to something in that ballpark would help restore a great deal of respect for copyright as well as vastly enriching the public domain. But I guess this is somewhat off-topic for an SEIV forum, and so I will shut up now.



[This message has been edited by BeeDee10 (edited 25 August 2001).]

[tesco samoa]

thats good reading if your fall under american copyright laws. I was thinking along the line that copyright laws should be one and the same planet wide.

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[dmm]

The real rip-off of pirating software is that most software only has a useful lifetime of about 5 years. So 50 years of copyright protection is meaningless. Therefore, it is much more of a crime to pirate software than books. If someone pirates a book, the copyright owners have 50 years to get a return on their investment from law-abiding citizens. Not so with software! (Although, come to think of it, many books also have a short lifetime, such as celeb bios and computer "how-to"s. Maybe there ought to be different categories of copyrights, and short-term copyrights should be savagely enforced.)

[tesco samoa]

All copyright is enforced. For if you do not enforce it you might lose it. Look at all the cases flying around with humour or satire of products. Like the fordsucks or any boardgames that have been reproduced as jokes.

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[dmm]

quote:

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Originally posted by tesco samoa:
All copyright is enforced. For if you do not enforce it you might lose it.

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What I meant was that someone could choose a 5-year copyright, which would have draconian penalties, or they could choose the 50-year copyright, which would have slap-on-the-wrist penalties (except for heinous offenders). Because not even MS cares if you pirate Win3.0 at this point (they've made their money and moved on), whereas the owners of a classic novel get their return on investment over the long term.

[BeeDee10]

quote:

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Originally posted by tesco samoa:
All copyright is enforced. For if you do not enforce it you might lose it.

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This is simply false, read the FAQ I posted the URL for downthread. _Trademarks_ have the "defend it or lose it" feature, but not copyright. It is possible to ignore some copyright violations and prosecute others, or even ignore _all_ copyright violations, and still retain copyright.

[TNTTony]

I seem to be the only one in my circle of friends that actually buy games. My friend actually told me that I was stupid in buying games because everyone pirates games.

There are many reasons why people pirate games and these reasons are not as black and white as many people on this forum seem to suggest.

Australia does not sell SEIV. Instead an australian can purchase the game via the net for the sum of $120. Why purchase the game at $120 and wait one week for the game to come when you can spend a couple of hours downloading and play it instantaneously?

It seems that the "common" theme in todays games is to package it in a DVD case with a flimsy manual. Anyone who have to work to earn a buck knows that moeny do no grow on trees. When we spend hundreds of dollars on a game we want more than just a GOOD game. We want something to be included in the purchase that makes it DIFFERENT to downloading it Online. I mean the only difference between a game downloaded Online and a game that was purchased is that one came with a paper manual and one came without a manual. We want something good when purchasing the game.

There are many other reasons. Please don't get me wrong. I do not condone pirating. What I'm trying to say is that the pirating issue is not as easy and clear cut as people make it to be.

Thank you for your attention.

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I need a good signature :-(