OFBiz Tutorial | Intellectual Property vs. Piracy

OFBiz Tutorial reviewing the impact of intellectual property piracy and how it affects the enterprise eCommerce industry. Over the past several years there has been rise to many file sharing and torrent sites where a user can download content for free, basically stealing intellectual property that the owner would normally charge for. The ensuing battle between those who own this media and those who steal it has led to a complicated system of laws that seem largely ineffective.

This war is leading to many advances in methods of digital content transfer. In theory there are legal safety nets that protect the media industry. On the ground though, consumers are offered simple and free ways to download content vs. paying for it. Now paying for it may be the moral alternative, but very often the bureaucracy behind payed content keeps many items from being readily available and again leads individuals back to piracy.

The bottom line is that not every person who illegally downloads content is a black hat hacker who wants to put one over on the man. They simply want their media and they want it in an efficient and available way. If these means were made available by legitimate organizations, chances are that people would pay.

Another instance is that people are unwilling to pay the prices asked for digital content because of the significant savings a digital content provider realizes in production costs. Paying off the shelf prices for digital media doesn't add up to the average consumer.

Below is a quote from Jerry Kirkpatrick, a professor of International Business and Marketing at Cal State Polytechnic.

“Message to the innovative marketer? Either drop the price of the new product or produce a cheaper version — or be the first to exploit a new technology, something the movie and recording industries chose not to do. Many, including these two industries, would rather sue than practice good marketing.”

This quote sums it up perfectly. Take for instance the increased popularity of pirating television programing. Most people simply want to view the content and the only way to get it is by pirating downloads. This could easily be solved by a la carte cable channels, easy to use on demand, etc. The bickering back and forth between networks and companies like iTunes makes programs unavailable and piracy the only alternative.

Of course this is in no way meant to justify piracy, only to illustrate that there are some very real and serious flaws with legitimate media download sites and the companies that copyright the media. From an eCommerce standpoint, pirated downloads are an indicator of media demand. Most individuals would rather buy things legitimately than steal them so there is an indicator that the industries involved are either charging to much, making the content too difficult to obtain, or both.

Enterprise eCommerce businesses, manufacturers and marketers would do well to heed these market signals. By developing new strategies and business models can open the door for a booming and legal digital media industry.