EPTSwitzerland declares piracy for personal use legal - Page 12
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mAgixWTF
Germany103 Posts
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Zuxo
Sweden395 Posts
The government of Switzerland has issued a statement declaring that it will not take action to alter current copyright laws allowing the downloading of music and movies for personal use. The statement is the result of a lengthy study conducted by the Swiss government into the impact of so-called “piracy” on the entertainment industry. The entertainment industry has been complaining in Switzerland – as in the US and elsewhere – that the unauthorized downloading of music and movies has harmed their business. The situation in Switzerland is somewhat unique, in that current copyright law considers the downloading of content for personal use as acceptable and legal. The entertainment industry has been lobbying the Swiss government to change the law. This study is the government’s response. Despite the industry’s claims that downloading undermines their business, this study shows that the effect of unauthorized downloading on the industry’s bottom line is negligible. One key finding of the study is that downloaders spend as much if not more to acquire content legally as those who do not download. Researchers found no change in amount of disposable income spent on music and movies, despite the fact that roughly one third of Swiss people engage in some form of downloading. The government concluded, then, that no change to the current legal structure was necessary, and urged the entertainment industry to grow and adapt with the changes in technology and in consumer habits, rather than trying to suppress progress. Haha, man that is baller! | ||
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dmans
Sweden358 Posts
On December 05 2011 08:19 Tomazi wrote: This is exactly why scandinavians and small euro countries can do this. Sweden is the third in music export country per capita. so nah it's just that. is something more like the system is wrong | ||
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TheLOLas
United States646 Posts
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Ghostcom
Denmark4783 Posts
On December 05 2011 08:37 Tomazi wrote: What's the problem? Most of scandinavia had very relaxed laws on piracy and still do relative to UK/US/France. That what is being described in the OP sure as hell isn't what takes place in Scandinavia (perhaps in Finland, don't know what is going on there), yet you made it sound like there were equal laws to the one in Switzerland which isn't the case - not even close to, despite the piracy party trying to pull in the other direction... | ||
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Manit0u
Poland17715 Posts
On December 05 2011 07:00 SafeAsCheese wrote: Agreed. I also believe this is why the PC industry is struggling, you can just download th games =/ The Witcher 2 has lost hundreds of thousands of sales to piracy. If their sales differences are "negligible", why are small companies and indie devs struggling while large companies with massive shitty DRM doing amazing? Seriously guys? First you go on about pirating everything and then make claims that it's bad because it hurts the PC gaming? First of all, you've got really bad attitute towards it. I sure as hell am downloading/pirating a lot of stuff but whenever I get the chance I do give credit where credit is due. I like the album I downloaded? I go and buy it. That's also why I buy things I really don't need or donate to sources of free entertainment I deem worthy. If I like a game or a piece of software that's free and it has some paid DLC, T-shirts, donate button or other way of getting voluntary revenue I'm all over it. With how shitty the games have been lately I usually download them first to take them for a spin, if I like what I see I go and buy it (right now I have exactly 0 pirated games, last one was Skyrim which I started to hate after playing for 2-3 hours). What's wrong with testing out the product before you get it? They have test drives for cars. If it's shitty I'm saving the money, if it's good I'm buying it. This way it's better for consumers and producers alike. Producers get free advertisement while consumers get 'test drives' and a sort of 'quality check' over producers, which need to make better products for people to be willing to buy the real deal after trying it out. @ FabledIntegral: So, a game that can provide you with 20+ hours of entertainment costs you 5 hours of your work and you're bitching about it? I earn 20% of what you are and I have no problem with buying original games and albums. And I've got mortgage to pay off, wife, kid and a second one on the way. Seriously, what's wrong with you people? | ||
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farvacola
United States18856 Posts
On December 05 2011 08:43 dmans wrote: Sweden is the third in music export country per capita. so nah it's just that. is something more like the system is wrong http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_industry#Total_value_by_country Smaller countries in the graph have practical license to legislate intellectual property laws in any manner they so choose, making Switzerland's decision seem almost required given their political climate. The same cannot be said for the countries in which the music industry is of a certain size and gravity relative to other corporate/government interests. | ||
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heroyi
United States1064 Posts
...Switzerland’s findings are just the latest in a series of reports showing that the downloading of music and movies is far less harmful than the entertainment industry would have us believe. In July Douglas C. Merrill, formerly of Google and then EMI, one of the three main record labels, said in a keynote address that his research while at EMI showed that users of torrenting service LimeWire were among the best customers in the iTunes music store. Around the same time, Telepolis published a report (Google Translation) stating that users of the recently raided kino.to website tended to pay more at the box office than the average moviegoer. Meanwhile, another study conducted by Northwestern University (PDF) showed that users of peer-to-peer client software – i.e., BitTorrent users – bring in a substantial amount of money for the large ISPs. ^^OP left out some really nice bit of info here... it sounds like they are making substantial amount of money. | ||
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liberal
1116 Posts
On December 05 2011 08:11 Rogerabbit_gosu wrote: Switzerland for a long time have actually known how to run a country properly, socialism that has not been corrupt, its a wonderful country On December 05 2011 08:17 smokeyhoodoo wrote: Why is Swiss policy always so sensible? Because they have decentralized government, direct democracy, limited government authority, and strict adherence to the rule of law. Wait a minute.... now I'm confused. Socialism with limited, decentralized government? Having the power to obtain and redistribute the resources of a nation certainly doesn't seem either limited or decentralized. | ||
pPingu
Switzerland2892 Posts
On December 05 2011 09:43 liberal wrote: Wait a minute.... now I'm confused. Socialism with limited, decentralized government? Having the power to obtain and redistribute the resources of a nation certainly doesn't seem either limited or decentralized. I didn't really understand what you wrote, but aren't you talking about communism? | ||
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yeint
Estonia2329 Posts
On December 05 2011 07:00 SafeAsCheese wrote: I also believe this is why the PC industry is struggling, you can just download th games =/ The Witcher 2 has lost hundreds of thousands of sales to piracy. In my case, Witcher 2 only lost because I torrented it to try it and found that I absolutely hated it. Games that I like, I buy. | ||
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Orome
Switzerland11984 Posts
On December 05 2011 08:33 Mr. Wiggles wrote: http://vocaroo.com/?media=vcubkwrlDibw8NowC So when do I get my citizenship card? aahahahahaha awesome <3 | ||
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Orome
Switzerland11984 Posts
On December 05 2011 08:17 smokeyhoodoo wrote: Why is Swiss policy always so sensible? Because they have decentralized government, direct democracy, limited government authority, and strict adherence to the rule of law. That is why they are the most prosperous nation on earth. I just hope they can resist the immense pressure from the EU to control them. It's much more complicated than that. Don't just take the political aspects of Switzerland you like and declare they're the reason for Switzerland doing well. | ||
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SpiZe
Canada3640 Posts
On December 05 2011 07:00 SafeAsCheese wrote: Agreed. I also believe this is why the PC industry is struggling, you can just download th games =/ The Witcher 2 has lost hundreds of thousands of sales to piracy. If their sales differences are "negligible", why are small companies and indie devs struggling while large companies with massive shitty DRM doing amazing? I agree with you, however, the number of times a game has been downloaded illegaly does not corresponds to the number of "sales lost" . Most of these guys wouldn't have bought the game in the first place and just went like "oh I heard about this game, it seems ok and some people are playing it. I guess could download it". | ||
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Sufficiency
Canada23833 Posts
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HellRoxYa
Sweden1614 Posts
On December 05 2011 10:23 Sufficiency wrote: I really don't like this.... The government is basically saying "we don't care about people who produce contents." Oh, right, right. Thank god you read their motivation and everything. + Show Spoiler [Because I'm kind I've summ…] + Despite the industry’s claims that downloading undermines their business, this study shows that the effect of unauthorized downloading on the industry’s bottom line is negligible. One key finding of the study is that downloaders spend as much if not more to acquire content legally as those who do not download. | ||
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heroyi
United States1064 Posts
On December 05 2011 10:23 Sufficiency wrote: I really don't like this.... The government is basically saying "we don't care about people who produce contents." ...Switzerland’s findings are just the latest in a series of reports showing that the downloading of music and movies is far less harmful than the entertainment industry would have us believe. In July Douglas C. Merrill, formerly of Google and then EMI, one of the three main record labels, said in a keynote address that his research while at EMI showed that users of torrenting service LimeWire were among the best customers in the iTunes music store. Around the same time, Telepolis published a report (Google Translation) stating that users of the recently raided kino.to website tended to pay more at the box office than the average moviegoer. Meanwhile, another study conducted by Northwestern University (PDF) showed that users of peer-to-peer client software – i.e., BitTorrent users – bring in a substantial amount of money for the large ISPs. ^^OP left out some really nice bit of info here... it sounds like they are making substantial amount of money. REPOST :D | ||
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Eppa!
Sweden4641 Posts
On December 05 2011 08:19 Chargelot wrote: Music isn't vital. But it wouldn't exactly stop if the current music industry completely and utterly died. People like music, therefore people will make music, with or without the current industry in place. Same goes for tv, movies, games, etc. The governments of the world help and protect them not because they're vital, but because they have deep and loose pockets. So yes, price manipulation is bad, because it starts with malintent. Even if some small good comes from it, it's not right for tax dollars to go towards protecting this specific company and this specific product from this specific not-exactly-a-crime because they produced a bullshit system that allows their product to be duplicated and distributed free of charge. We got better things to spend those dollars on, like medical research and feeding the starving. Arguably music is vital, not in the sense of you die without it but neither are public asphalt roads. Why is price manipulation always started with malintent? There are currently massive problems with wealth inequality and having wide public enterainment payed for by taxes is a bad thing? You know what a bullshit system is? a system that only takes into account the top 1% which is what the most mainstream music and film industry is currently centered around. Feeding the starving and medical research is the most BS argument ever. Should government would spend all the money from the public sector from less than basic infrastructure on medical research too? | ||
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Shorty90
Germany154 Posts
On December 05 2011 08:40 mAgixWTF wrote: Downloading is legal in Germany, too. You are just not allowed to upload copyrighted material. Just like in Switzerland i guess. Do you have a source for this? Because I live in germany and I'm pretty sure that this is wrong. | ||
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OsoVega
926 Posts
On December 05 2011 10:30 heroyi wrote: ^^OP left out some really nice bit of info here... it sounds like they are making substantial amount of money. REPOST :D So? Just because someone may be a long time shopper at Wal-Mart does not justify making it legal for them to steal a pack of gum, even a single time. This is an issue of property rights, not of how much the violation of property rights hurts the producer or how the violators may simultaneously support the producer. | ||
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