Robin Hood in reverse: software, piracy and copyright

Abstract

How does piracy influence the computer software market? This research aims to analyze the effects of piracy on both the major international software corporations and the small software developers. The theoretical framework is composed by the theories of living lawfully and the struggle for recognition. A qualitative analysis is achieved through the methodology of the rules of inference. The main results are that intellectual property laws ends up encouraging market monopoly rather than competitive innovation and that the software piracy helps rather than hinders the major software corporations, because it hampers the new computer software developers from entering this market. Therefore, from a legal perspective, restoring the role of the software intellectual property law may enable a better legal protection as well as help disseminate access to knowledge, as far as technological innovation in this market is concerned.