Copyright Infringement

Copyright infringement is the violation of copyright law for profit or to avoid payment for copyrighted work.

Most commonly, copyright infringement refers to the large-scale theft of digital media such as music, film, and computer programs. Specialty internet sites cater to those who would deprive the copyright owners of their due payments.

While copyright infringement is theft in such cases, it is perhaps easier to rationalize, since copies of these materials are easily and freely made (unlike the theft of say, a car), and thus the immediate negative effects are not apparent. However, in a world where everybody has free access to the work of others without payment, the incentive to produce digital media disappears, and less music, fewer movies and fewer computer programs are produced, which benefits nobody.