Quote:
Originally Posted by Libertine
The mere act of copyright infringement does not necessarily result in any tangible damages. It is entirely possible for someone to commit copyright infringement upon works which he would not have bought either way, with the copyright infringement thus resulting in no damages whatsoever.
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What you are suggesting is utterly ridiculous. Who is to say what someone might or might not have done anyway in a theoretical world? If you enjoy the benefit of a product or service without paying for it it is THEFT of that service. The damage is the loss of revenue from what the thief (the thief being the wise ass who supposedly "wouldn't have used it anyway") should have paid. What is so hard to understand about that?
For example if you pirate satellite tv and get caught, you are going to get your ass sued and possibly criminally prosecuted for theft of services which could even be a felony charge! Just try telling the judge, "Your honor, all I did was watch some tv" I mean the signal is out there bouncing around in the atmosphere anyway, and I didn't deprive anyone else of the service. Besides I wasn't going to pay for it anyway..." See how far that gets you...