An elegant way to fight widespread copyright infringement on the Internet

Economic rationale of piracy

Content publishers are quick to blame the success of Internet copyright infringement on the price. After all, what can beat free? Well, in the real world, many things can. There is a lot more to a product than simply its price. A quick comparison with the luxury goods industry brings the point home.

How can the luxury goods industry remain profitable in spite of rampant counterfeiting?

• While the counterfeit product has definitely the edge in the price department...
• the genuine product is (most probably) better made...
• not to mention has a much better reputation.

As a result, neither product has the definite edge. The consumer's decision depends on how much value (s)he gives to each quality. While not all consumers will pick the genuine product, it still has a viable market.

The entertainment industry cannot beat pirates on price. It just needs to offer a better product.

Next page: Leak and contagion

Overview – Page 2 of 5 – Next page

Articles in that section

• Can Internet Video on Demand actually deliver?
• The search for a High-Definition Video on Demand solution
• An elegant way to fight widespread copyright infringement on the Internet
• Summary: Snowball® OpenDelivery™: a novel approach to content-delivery networks

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