The Current Situation
Economic growth in the 21st century is invariably linked to technological advancement. The world’s richest countries are indeed the most technologically advanced. This is not a coincidence but a trend.
In the arena of software, music, games and any other form of copyrighted digital work, the developments of the past ten years have propelled industries to greater heights. Copyright? infringement, a topic often brought up in reference to developing countries due to high piracy? rates there, is becoming a growing concern for companies dealing with copyrighted digital work.
The very nature of digital work implies that people can copy digital works at almost no cost most of the time without degradation. This is the reason why copyright infringement? is so rampant.
I feel that the current efforts against copyright infringement are heading the wrong way. Filing lawsuits and enacting ever-increasingly strict legislation against copyright infringement is not going the right way, not when software prices remain out of the reach of the typical Indonesian.
This is especially so in the field of software, where essential software such as Microsoft Office have become ubiquitous in business computers all over the world. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the copies used are not original.
The truth is, software has become an essential part of economic development. Without the relevant software, businesses cannot hope to cope in this digital age. Software boosts productivity and efficiency, although acquiring genuine software is unfortunately coupled with high costs.
Capitalizing on the global fanfare of American popular culture by setting high prices for music and video will definitely erode the support of those in developing countries. The result? They will take the culture, but not pay the money.
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Coming from the middle class, I have not been denied the use of essential software, but expensive, high-end applications such as Adobe Photoshop are beyond my means. In addition, thankfully, I am not an ardent fan of popular music. Otherwise, my budget would be severely strained due to the album purchases I would have made.
To put it simply, in order to deal with increasing copyright infringement, prices of copyrighted material must come down. This is especially true in developing countries, where the demand for software and music is ever increasing with economic expansion. They can’t pay for it, but they’ll take it anyway.
I would recommend Western companies dealing with copyrighted digital works to sell their products in developing countries at lower prices, benchmarking their prices with the disposable incomes of people from developing countries. This would create a larger market for the industries as more people from developing countries can afford copyrighted works, and at the same time, solve the problem of growing copyright infringement.
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