Pirates of Caribbean gets a taste of piracy

No, if you've had your head in the sand all summer, 'Pirates of the Carribean' does not refer to the UN's role in Haiti. This is about copyright dude! So, here's a light-hearted story of corporate misery from Mumbai followed by some related amoral tales by someone going by the name of 'private infringer' http://privateinfringer.blogspot.com/ both re-posted from the well-informed and surprisingly humourous Commons Law list http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law

Pirates of Caribbean gets a taste of piracyShriya Bubna / Mumbai July 24, 2006Video piracy has punched holes in the Indian collections of Pirates ofthe Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the latest offering from Hollywood torelease in the country.

The film has recorded the biggest ever opening weekend in theHollywood history, and may still miss out on several viewers aspirated VCDs and DVDs of the movie have made their way to the localblack markets.

Thanks to the thriving pirates of Dubai as well as home-grownfraudsters, pirated prints of the film flooded the market on the dayof the India release itself.

The bane of the movie - sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curseof the Black Pearl - is its delayed release in India last Friday; itopened globally on July 6.

Other recent Hollywood blockbusters released in India - the twoSpiderman movies, the Harry Potter series, Superman Returns - hadescaped a similar fate as their release in India coincided with theirglobal opening.

Bollywood pegs the losses in revenue due to piracy at Rs 1,700 crore ayear. As many as 70 per cent of the market is serviced by piracy whileonly 30 per cent is serviced by legitimate products.

The Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA), consisting of thesix big Hollywood studios, loses an estimated Rs 375 crore in revenueto piracy each year in India.

While the cost of a pirated CD may be only Rs 50, pirates operate on aprofit margin of nearly 800 per cent since the CDs are copied.

---The Adventures of Private Infringer

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Chapter I

Private Infringer isn't a super hero like Captain Copyright ofcourse. He is just a lowly private who wants to know whyeverybody keeps trying to tell him what to do, even in theprivacy of his own home.

Every time he tries to rip his CDs to put them on his MP3 player,that guy Captain Copyright in spandex pajamas, is in his facetelling him it's wrong. Yesterday he downloaded a copy of DJDangermouse's Grey Album. When CC showed up to lecture him in hisusual condescending way, Infringer tried explaining that DJDangermouse put it on the web for free himself. But Copyrightsaid that didn't matter. Paul McCartney did not approve, and thatis all that really did matter.

How was it, Infringer wondered, that a society which judgesitself to be so enlightened could find it so easy to suppressart. He then thought about all the other lost art which he hadeither heard of, or in some cases, even seen parts of himself."The Cat NOT in the Hat", "Eyes on the Prize", and another newbook. What was it again? Oh yeah, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, GotWild, and Got in".

The last one was ChickLit, so the thought of reading it did notreally grab him, but he did begin to wonder just how much stuffmight be out there that had not seen the light of day long enoughfor him to be able to discover its existence. Even worse how muchart was never being created in the first place because peoplewere too afraid of the consequences?

Oh well, he wasn't going to worry about this now. He was almosthome. With any luck the movie he started downloading this morningwould be finished and he could kick up his feet, order somepizza, and chill in front of a great movie.

Rounding the corner onto his street in his busy downtownneighbourhood he saw the street vendor who often sells things inhis little stall on the sidewalk. Usually the vendor sold thesame old stuff, cheap electronics, cheap DVDs and CDs, andassorted nicnaks. Today some new nicnaks grabs his eye. Infringerhad always been a ravenous reader. He had fond memories of whenhe was a kid and he read the entire collection of “Anne of GreenGables. “ with his mother. The new nicnaks all looked likevarious Anne of Green Gable characters. He picked up a couple toexamine them thinking one of them possibly tied in with a someflowers and a bow might make a thoughtful mothers day present.

Choosing a rather nice one, which was distinctly Anne with thefreckles and red hair, he paid the vendor and started to walkaway. But he'd only gone about 3 feet when that self importantbusy body Captain Copyright flew in out of the blue. Wow. Justlike a real super hero too.

“Did you know that you have just purchased an unauthorized andunlicenced product” said Captain Copyright in his deep, strongand authoritative voice. Everyone on the street could hear thisand as he spoke the vendor started cowering in his seat andglancing up and down the street with a very guilty look on hisface.

Infringer's first instinct of course was to immediately put theproduct back. Copyright spoke with such authority and certainty,and his words always seamed so reasonable on the surface that itwas very difficult for anyone not to do exactly what he said. ButInfringer gathered his strength this time.

“Oh no, not you again”, he sighed, “What, what, have I done thistime?”

“That ceramic doll you just purchased was not licensed by theAnne of Green Gables Licensing Authority. It is illegal. You musthand it over to the appropriate authorities along withinformation about who you received it from so that they can allbe destroyed. If you don't, the authorities will prosecute youinstead.”

“huhh” Private Infringer was confused, “Wait a minute. I haven'tdone anything wrong. What do you mean licensed? What is there tolicense? These are characters from a book. There weren't even anypictures in those books. How can this be breaking copyright?”

“It isn't” said Captain Copyright with his arms crossed and astern disapproving look on his face.

The look on Private Infringer's face was more a look ofbewilderment. He began to wonder if perhaps Copyright's spandexpants were a little to tight and were cutting off circulation tothe the part of his anatomy his brain must be in.

“It's breaking trademark law” Copyright continued, “The Anne ofGreen Gables Licensing Authority is a corporation jointly ownedby the province of PEI and the heirs of Lucy Maud Montgomery.They own all rights to any character likenesses from the books aswell as the words 'Anne of Green Gables' and the Montgomery name”

Private Infringer still had a bewildered look on his face. “Butwait a minute, these books are all in the public domain nowaren't they? Doesn't that mean, they don't need to be licensed?Besides”, Infringer paused for a moment, “ I thought your namewas Captain Copyright, not Trolling Trademark”.

Captain Copyright's face started to look a little more angry.Infringer began to get a little worried that maybe he'd gone toofar and stepped over the line. He had heard about how CaptainCopyright had completely destroyed people in the past with hispowerful 'Statutory Damages' death ray. He did not really want tomake Captain Copyright angry if he could avoid it. He broke eyecontact with Copyright and instead stared down at his feet.

The Captain continued. “ It does not matter what the status ofthe books are. This is trademark law. There is no limitations ontrademarks. The owner of a trademark can continue to dictate howthat trademark is used for as long as they maintain itsregistration. The AGGLA has complete control of every....”

BOOM

Copyright's words were suddenly interrupted by the loud sound ofa vehicle backfiring. Copyright and Infringer both turned to seean old army jeep turning the corner of the street. Its paint waspeeling, and smoke was coming out of the tail pipe. The frontaxle was obviously bent as the vehicle had a pronounced verticalwobble in its movement. It pulled up in front of Copyright andInfringer, coughed and sputtered then stopped. An old man got outwho looked like he could be Moses' grandfather. He had a shortwhite beard, wrinkled face, and a tattered but clean, old armyuniform which was full of rusty medals.

“Who are you?” said Captain Copyright and Private Infringer atthe same moment.

The old man paused in front of them for a moment to catch hisbreath.

“I am General Intelligence”, he said.

Copyright's face changed to look a little more worried. For yearsnow he had managed to maintain order and control without havingto worry about anything that had anything to do withIntelligence. Was this guy back now to undo all his good work.Copyright sized up this Intelligence and hopefully concluded thathe was to old and frail to offer much of any opposition.

“What do you want?” scoffed Copyright.

“For years now I have not paid attention to these issues ofcopyright and Intellectual Monopolies, while you and yourcorporate friends have slowly tightened the noose upon oursociety. It is almost to the point now where nothing creative canbe done without explicit permission from some corporate entity oranother. Our culture is dying and what's left is being sold offto the highest bidder. I'm going to protect this boy from thelikes of you.”

“Words of intelligence eh?” Captain Copyright scoffed with a widegrin on his face.

“Yes”, replied General Intelligence, looking a little perplexedby the new look on Copyright's face.

“The word is 'property' you simpleton”, Captain copyright shotback with a laugh. “Intellectual Property”, he yelled, “Boy, ifyou can't get that right, you really haven't got a hope defeatingme.”. Captain Copyright was starting to feel much more sure ofhimself now.

There was a pause before Intelligence spoke again. Then he spokeslowly.

“I said 'Intellectual Monopoly', and that is precisely what Imeant. Just because you and your control obsessed cohorts havemanaged to convince the world that the inappropriate use of theword property is justified, does not make it right. A monopolyright granted to you by the state, allows you to dictate otherpeople's behaviour. It is not property. In fact it is the exactopposite of property, as it gives you the right to tell othershow they may or may not use their own property. This is one ofthe first things I need to rectify.”

Copyright was starting to worry again, and small beads of sweatwere forming on his forehead.

Intelligence continued, “Now as for this Anne of Green Gablesthing.” the General paused as he turned to look at PrivateInfringer, “Alas my boy, I'm afraid Captain Copyright is correct.In fact the trademark owners already won a landmark victory incourt which prevents anyone from making commercial use of any ofthe characters or names associated with the Anne of Green Gablesstory. Verbatim copies of the book are probably OK but anyderived works would violate the registered trademarks.”

Private Infringer was in shock. “You mean these people can usetrademark law to totally circumvent the purpose of copyright lawand effectively maintain a monopoly on these stories forever?”

“I'm afraid so,” replied the General.

Captain Copyright had a look of satisfaction on his face,strikingly similar to the one Mickey Mouse wore the day theAmerican overlords successfully extended their term of copyright,thereby saving their iconic mascot from falling into the hands ofthe pagan artisans.

“Not so fast Captain Copyright”, General Intelligence turned toCaptain Copyright just as he was reaching for ceramic figurine,intent on smashing the poor thing to bits with the sincere beliefthat this was somehow going to save the world from evil.

He pulled a large roll of red tape out of his jacket as hecontinued speaking.

“The Private here is quite right. As you yourself have said, thisis a trademark issue, and as such it is completely out of yourjurisdiction. Not even the American FCC has successfully beenable to rule outside their jurisdiction and impose their dreadedBroadcast Flag.” General Intelligence and Private Infringer bothshuddered at these words. “You too are restricted by jurisdictionand will have to leave this poor boy alone.”

Captain Copyright was utterly stunned by this. Could GeneralIntelligence really use such a technical detail to preventCaptain Copyright from saving the world for the exclusivecultural exploitation of large multinational corporations?

While Copyright was contemplating this horrible concept, his jawslowly moving up and down so that he resembled some kind of largegreen fish trying to breath out of water, General Intelligencetook advantage of the opportunity. With a little help fromInfringer he tied Copyright up in the red tape as tightly as hecould. Then the two of them proceeded down the road in thedirection of Infringer's Apartment.

“Thank you General Intelligence, I thought I was a goner backthere.”

“Don't thank me too quickly my boy.” said Intelligence, “Theseare dark times that we live in. They will get much darker too I'mafraid before they get brighter. These multinational corporationsare very powerful indeed, and they have a tight reign on both ourculture and our government. I've slowed Captain Copyright down bytying him up in red tape, but I certainly have not stopped him.He will be back, and he will bring his friends.”

There was a long pause as they walked slowly down the streettogether.

“I'm getting old my boy,” continued General Intelligence after awhile, “and people don't listen to me very much many more. I canadvise you, but I can do no more. If you want a society differentthen the one the multinational corporations and the collectiveassociations want, then you will have too take action on yourown. You will have to do something about it.”

They were approaching the front door to Private Infringer's thirdstory walk up. Infringer knew the General would have difficultyclimbing those stairs so instead of inviting him up, he thankedhim, shook his hand, then reached for his keys and made his wayup to the his apartment.

General Intelligence turned around and slowly started walkingback to his jeep by himself. He didn't mind. He was actuallygetting use to being by himself. Most people, he we was beginningto think, simply did not want Intelligence. And he could livewith that.

Private Infringer checked his mail box on the way up and wasdelighted to discover that a DVD he had recently ordered from theBBC in the UK through mail order had finally arrived.