Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property is the philosophy that thoughts, ideas, sounds, sights, etc. are owned by the person who first conceived/made them. Intellectual property is non-physical  including, but is not limited to: musical, literary, and artistic works, discoveries, inventions, and words, phrases, symbols, and designs.
The aforementioned intangible objects are protected under copyrights, trademarks, patents, and more.


Infringements on copyrights, etc. is often, and incorrectly, considered stealing, partially due to propaganda spread by video marketing companies, like this video:

The Christian's (and the movie's) main argument against "piracy" that it "is stealing". If I go to wal-mart, take a CD and run out with out paying I am stealing the CD. If I go onto the internet and torrent the data from the CD, then I am not taking a tangible object, therefore, I am not stealing it. If I paint a picture, and someone takes it from my house, he's stealing. Imagine he saw the painted picture, and he takes a photograph of it, and then prints it. By doing so, he is not stealing, unless he previously signed a contract that says that "I, the undersigned will not photograph, scan, create, or distribute any digital representation of the beautimous painting." Since no one who is buying a painting, ever, to the best of my knowledge, signs a contract like the one above, it belongs exclusively to the them.


The Christian's second argument is sometimes "A worker is worthy of his wages." Just because I paint a picture that is, to my perspective, very beautimous, does not mean that I am entitled to someone's buying it. If someone does buy it though, it belongs to them. Imagine that I buy a car. After the deal is made, the money transfer is complete, and I am about to climb into the car, the bold dealer says "By using, driving, or touching this car, you agree to the End User License Agreement, which is: No taking photographs of this vehicle, and you may not ever let any person, except for yourself, drive this vehicle." I would be aghast at his audacity, defy his command, and start arguing that the car is now solely, only, and exclusively mine, belonging to none other but me, and that "My logic is undeniable".


And if you are and atheist or the like, then I don't see why you would have any conscience issues doing anything, because you have no reason for performing morality, except the government's laws and social peer pressure.


But I am not saying to go and "pirate 'Cars'", or "download some TobyMac". I am stating the belief that intellectual property is bogus, and "pirating" is not wrong. It is great to support a good cause, but don't buy things like "Human" (Song), "Gunsmoke"(Old TV Show), "Pirates of the Caribbean 2"(Movie), and "Star Wars"(Movies/Books/Ebooks). Buy things like "Hoodwinked"(Movie), and "Lecrae"(Artist).


I regret to announce — this is The End. I am going now. I bid you all a very fond farewell.