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Originally Posted by Cirex To steal means you take something away from someone. If I steal a car, the owner doesn't have it. If I download a song, the owner still has full powers over it. Don't forget that stealing has a profit intention (selling a car, in example). Downloading has no economical profit (if you do, then it's illegal). Downloading doesn't equal stealing. |
I don't know how it works in Spain, but under U.S. law, when you buy a car (or a CD, or a book), you own the physical product. However, what you do
not own is the text of the book, or the song itself. Those remain the property of the artist, author, company, or whoever holds the copyright.
What you pay for is the right to use that product, in the form of a physical item. That has been legally construed to include the right to reproduce the product
for your own use.
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Originally Posted by Cirex Harvard studies, among others, reached this conclussion :
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You know what that means? That people who download stuff wouldn't have paid for it anyways. And the people who download and buy the same product don't count for "stadistics".
If right now I download 25 D&D books that I do not own, I'm causing zero economical harm to WotC, since I wouldn't have bought them anyways. Oh, and I am not breaking my nation's law. |
Like I said, I don't know how it works in Spain, but what you are doing violates copyright law in the United States, where
WotC is based. "Economic harm" is not a relevant criteria in assessing the violation of copyright law. It may be valid in assessing the penalty, but not the legality.
WotC owns the work in its books. You do not. Nor does someone who bought the book. As such, owning the book (or pdf) confers no right to distribute the product to others. With ONE exception. You may choose to distribute the physical product to others, by sale or gift, but only once. And you may not (legally) keep a download or scan if you do so. That is, unless you have paid
WotC, or one of its authorized resellers, for said download or scan. Ditto for that person if they pass the book on.
That's the law. You may quibble with it. But that's U.S. copyright law.
To be fair, the United States has stricter rules on intellectual property than many other countries. Including Spain, apparently. Preserving ownership over what you create is intended to encourage innovation and creativity. As such, it was written into the U.S. Constitution. I take it you believe this ownership is a bad thing? Or do you just believe that illegal distribution truly has no effect?
The "they weren't going to pay anyway" argument is an awfully slippery slope, legally speaking. It can be used to justify all sorts of morally questionable behavior.
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