Clarion Communications

In 2005, Spain was in the news, again. It may be of little interest to us, except it raises a moral dilemma that plagues the world: copyright.

I can think of no topic that gets people’s backs up so quickly. The idea that people should actually own something and protect it by law is under challenge. Especially if that property is “intellectual” property.

Imagine for a moment that you wrote a song, a popular one at that, and you’re making good royalties from the recording company who had contracted with you to market the product. But there are some individuals who reject the notion that you and the record company should make such a deal. They think your song should be “public domain” and available free to everyone. In short, they don’t like the idea of you making a living off your song-writing abilities. They also don’t like the fact that the recording industry should be paid for its work in making your song successful.

It seems that many Spaniards think like this. According to an article in the July 2005 edition of Billboard, Spain was the ninth largest market in the world for recorded music. Yet according to EMI Music Spain president Manolo Diaz, Spain “has a street-level piracy that does not exist in any other civilized county.”

Unfortunately, it seems, there are many Christians who think the same way as the Spaniards. Piracy is rampant around the world. And it’s not just music that is at risk. Software also is freely copied, denying the original owner exclusive rights to sell his own property.

What is noticeable is the envy that underlies the piracy mentality. Envy is expressed in the idea that if I can’t have something then no else should have it either. It seems that if some people cannot make money from song writing, they are going to make sure that no one else can do it either, even if it means abandoning the idea of property rights to do so. Yet if those same people had their motor car or other items taken and used without permission they would soon cry out, “stop thief.”

The photocopier, the tape recorder and now computers and CD/DVDs are the tools that have allowed the challenge to intellectual property rights. Patent and copyright laws are under challenge in the modern wave of copyright and patent infringement. Communism, the idea that property is owned by everyone, is the popular notion in intellectual property. No one can own anything, and everything you have is to be available to your neighbor free of charge at his demand.

Long ago it was said, “Thou shalt not steal” and this is the basis for all property rights, intellectual and physical. Which is why freedom to own property of all kinds, a major contributing factor to the success of Western civilization, needs to be re-evaluated.