Will Youtube Have To Close In Germany - Or Even In Europe? The Gema Case
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This is just crazy... I wished that not holding publishers responsible for user generated content was an acquired principle. Doesn't look so.
Hackful Europe
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Seriously Gema in Germany is a really crazy group. Several years ago we had another crazy group called CMA. We had luck and could fight theme into oblivion but Gema is a way bigger problem than a lot of people imagine!
It really is horrible. But the problem is with copyrights as a concept, not with single decisions about it.
Actually, I think that copyrights are absolutely necessary: without them, for example, we wouldn't have a movies industry. But there should be clear limits.
Why can't you have a movies industry without copyrights? I don't think that copyright was ever a great idea. In a free market these thing will even play well without free market.
People know what copy cats are if you have a strong product and everything else is more or less shit. Your product will be bought. But if you are huge company and shit products, you can market them, copyright them and sue everyone mentioning it without your permission to push back any competitors!
Without copyrights:
There should be some kind of "IP protection" but not to the current extent. Copyright as an idea has to be reconsidered..