Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!microsoft!w-colinp
From: w-colinp@microsoft.UUCP (Colin Plumb)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Software Development And Piracy (Spurred By FTL replies)
Message-ID: <39@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 9 Dec 88 11:33:09 GMT
References: <555@icus.islp.ny.us> <2363@ddsw1.MCS.COM> <1334@leah.Albany.Edu> <5769@thorin.cs.unc.edu> <1343@leah.Albany.Edu>
Reply-To: w-colinp@microsoft.UUCP (Colin Plumb)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 29

In article <1343@leah.Albany.Edu> jac423@leah.Albany.Edu (Julius A Cisek) writes:
>In article <5769@thorin.cs.unc.edu>, bell@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell) writes:
>> Most big-time pirates are fairly young,  and don't have the disposable
>> income to buy that much software. 
>
>> Step one:  think about what piracy actually hurts customers.  That would be
>> piracy by business and professional people,  who have the income to buy the
>> software.
>
>Wait a second! So what you're saying is that its okay to pirate stuff if
>you can't afford to buy it? That's insane! Can I steal your car  because
>I can't afford one myself?

Hardly.  Copyright law says that copying that is insignificant in quantity
and does not impact the fortunes of the copyright holder (this is not the
exact wording, which also mentions not copying the entire work) is perfectly
legal.  While most software licences are more restrictive, this rule seems
to keep book publishers reasonably happy.

Stealing a car is *very* different, because it deprives the (former) owner
of the use of the car.  Copying (whether of a car or a program) doesn't.
It only deprives the copyright holder of revenue.  If you could tell that
a person was not going to purchase something, there is no harm in them having
a copy.  Of course, in this world, it's hard to tell.  Still, I think I
can safely say that the copy of WordPerfect I have for the Amiga (used once,
hated it, now collecting dust until I need another floppy for Fish Disks)
isn't depriving WP corp. of any revenue.
-- 
	-Colin (uunet!microsof!w-colinp)