“Destroy?” Don’t be ridiculous! He isn’t even Timbaland or Jay-Z.

IMHO, little fishes like him are more of a scapegoat than delinquents anyway. The concept of copyright is fundamentally challenged by ubiquitous digital technology and internet access for everyone world-wide. People show little respect for copyrights. Look, even this blog is based on copyright infringement namely fan-subbing. Virtually all images on here are used without permission including the avatars – just like mine. The same goes for at least half of all blogs. I find it a bit amusing how
uptight people can get who violate the very same laws or moral standards all the time by consuming illegally copied videos and music, using cracked software, etc. some in extreme dimension and some to a lesser extent. The point is, we all have double-standards and while I don’t argue to ignore if someone does something wrong, it’s important to avoid blowing things out of proportion.

One thing I might never understand is why even digital natives keep using the terms “thief” and “stealing”. That level of thoughtlessness or sheer stupidity worries me more than the lack of respect for copyrights.

Now, you may claim using others work without permission isn’t as bad as publishing it as your own work. It probably is but since the former is completely “normal” now, the latter
doesn’t feel as immoral as it maybe should, even more so if it’s not done for commercial purpose respectively financial gain but just for fun. If it’s done to boost one’s self-esteem or to obtain acceptance, that’s rather sad than anything else.

That said, there are probably few if any artists who didn’t start with using and even copying, the works or at least the style of other artists. In fact, copying is the very concept of life. It’s one of the most natural acts there is. Copyrights and even more so patents are very artificial and young concepts. Just like technology made them possible and commercially useful, technology may kill them in the long run.

By the way, I don’t think the example you show supports your position well. While it’s an obvious trace, there’s a sufficient amount of modifications involved. It isn’t a blatant palette and background swap like the Nama-ko rip-off.

Laws regarding copyright and similar are very complex anyway. For example, playing a melody yourself may not be copyright infringement while copying an existing recording likely is, even if the result sounds exactly the same. Now, when it comes to drawing I don’t know, where the law draws the line and most-likely – no definitely – they differ from country to country even if almost all countries have signed the Berne Convention today.

We continue with the annual debate about fansub ethics after a short commercial break. Stay tuned!

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