Copyright - Who's right?

A simple show of hands - how many of you know that downloading an image, a song or writings on the Internet can be an infringement of copyright? Perhaps in our current times, you know for sure. But what about 5 years ago? People knew that duplicating software, movie discs or music CDs constitues an offence. But what about the Internet? It was a new and exciting concept. It gets piped directly (and effortlessly) into your living room and since you already pay for your access, the information that flows through the cables and manifests itself on your screen apprears to be at your disposal. Not many were clear about the laws governing this access to the world.

In the last 5 years, there has been an increased awareness about copyright and intellectual property rights. People of the world are being more and more receptive to the idea of protecting intellectual property. After all, if you've created a wonderful piece of work, the last thing you want it for someone else to profit from it or make multiple copies and share it with others. Infringement of copyright or intellectual property rights is tantamount to theft, no matter which way you cut it. But, what if you were led into taking something believing it was available for your use but once you've used it, the copyright owners slap you with "infringement of copyright" together with a huge settlement fee? I regret to note that some copyright owners are capable of entrapment to make good money. As much as I hate to admit this, I had a front row seat "invitation" to see such injustice at play.

You see something on the Internet - a beautiful graphic, a cute cartoon character, an interesting story. You look at it and say "That is so cool!". Inadvertently, your finger reaches the right button on your mouse. You click it and the pointer sitting on the image produces a menu. You move down to "Save Image As" and click. It is now saved on your computer. Under today's copyright laws, you have now committed a crime. But what if the law is manipulated? "Is that possible?", you ask. Let's see...

Let's say there is a nice graphic on a website. You have no knowledge that it can be bought for your personal use. No price is stated, no copyright message pops up when you right-click, no "Buy Now" icon is present. Only a "Download Now" tag is placed on the bottom right corner. "Download", you think. "Hmmm... that's like a free sample", you tell yourself. It's a nice graphic. You right-click and save it. "It'll look good on my website", you think. And before long, it graces your homepage. Some months later, the owner of the graphic sends you a letter saying you've infringed their copyright and you now have to pay for the graphic and tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, investigation charges and damages. Your world collapses. You think they'll understand if you explain the situation to them but they refuse to listen, insisting on you paying what they feel they are owed.

Since you've committed the "theft", you're always at the losing end. Such is our world. No Government or authority will stand by you. Copyright owners are well aware of this and in this case, take advantage of your misfortune and try to squeeze you of everything you have. You're alone and helpless. You pray for one of two things - for someone to help you out of this messy situation or for someone to "take you away" from it all, if you get my drift.

However, with digging deeper, some interesting facts surfaced :

1. The simple graphic you took is being sold for thousands of dollars. A person with some ability in computer graphics can reproduce the same picture in 2 hours and without too much effort. As a result, not many of these graphics are sold.

2. The copyright owner hire expensive lawyers to sue you. After all, you're the one footing the legal bill since you committed the offence. And because there are hundreds of others like you who have used the graphic without knowing, the copyright owner cleverly uses different legal firms to sue each individual. This way, you can't hire any big guns because they all represent the copyright owner. I believe it is called "conflict of interest". You're stuck with scraping the bottom of the legal barrel for what's left. And most small time lawyers are fearful of going against the legal heavy-weights.

3. The copyright owner uses an Internet investigator that claims to employ "high-tech" sleuthing software to track down such offenders. Because of their claims of using sophisticated software, these Internet detectives charge exorbitant prices for sniffing you out. Again, you're paying for it so it doesn't matter.

4. To accomplish the same so-called "high-tech" tracking on the Internet, one just needs to use a well-known search engine's image search facility. No need for sophisticated software or high-tech specialists.

5. Another copyright owner, when asked the cost of using a similar graphic on your website, said they would be happy to allow you to use it for free.

6. Here's the real kicker. If you do a little investigating of your own, you will discover that the so-called "high-tech investigator" and the copyright owner are one and the same. They just operate under different entities for maximum effect!

Many people, for fear of being sued and losing everything, work out a substantial settlement with the copyright owners. Many even pay the copyright owner on a monthly basis because the settlement figure is still too large. These are hardworking people struggling to keep afloat in very difficult times. One such person, a lady in her 50s said and I quote "Since this happened to me, I have had sleepless nights and my health has suffered tremendously." So, they pay what is demanded by the big bad wolf. In this case, the copyright owner has made more money from suing people through this "scheme" than by selling their product legitimately.

Although laws are put in place to protect the innocent, it can also be used as a tool to take advantage of the ill-informed as well, especially if not properly guarded or administrated. While such wrong-doings were finally exposed, the damage was already done and people were hurt. The copyright owner got away scott-free from this situation by shielding himself under the veil of the copyright law - leaving the very same law-makers, that gave this legislation life, with their hands tied firmly behind their backs.

Such is the complex world we live in today. Think before you right-click.