Re:Letters to my copyright infringers
by paulfurtado on Friday December 06, 2013 @07:08AM
(#6860673)
> For example if you steal a TV, the value of the theft is set at the retail price of the TV, even though the store only paid wholesale. That is because you have deprived them of not only the TV itself, but also the revenue they could have earned by selling the TV.
However, it is important to note that by copying digital content you don't prevent the retailer from selling the content to another customer.
This is probably an incomplete conception of theft.
For example if you steal a TV, the value of the theft is set at the retail price of the TV, even though the store only paid wholesale. That is because you have deprived them of not only the TV itself, but also the revenue they could have earned by selling the TV.
Digital copies are so cheap that the "wholesale" is effectively zero, so it's true that the owner is not deprived of any property. But there is still the question of the opportunity to earn revenue.