By: Nikita Sasi
Everyone’s heard of Netflix, the wonderful provider of all types of movies, documentaries and shows. However, before companies like Netflix established themselves, it was a lot harder to try and watch your favorite movies outside of cinemas, and also a lot more expensive. You had to buy DVDs or purchase individual shows and movies, which a lot of people weren’t very keen on. This led to the rise of a very popular phenomenon known as pirating, in which viewers reproduced and illegally distributed creators’ works without their authorization.
Everyone knows that you’re not supposed to watch movies online or download music for at cost, as it is illegal. The same goes for books, art and numerous other works. Most people are annoyed about it; why is their internet freedom restricted? However, this is the result of something very precious to creators all over the world; Intellectual Property Rights.
Think of copyrights, trademarks and patents, and that’s basically what IPR is; the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. They give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a certain period of time. It’s just like any other property right and everyone should be aware of it.
The field of arts is a finicky one; there’s a ton of risk involved with creating movies, stories or art in the first place. Beyond that, their work is often viewed or used illegally by millions of people around the world, which leads to a substantial increase to their financial burden.
IPR isn’t all black and white though. It’s quite subjective due to its intangible nature. Take Van Gogh, for example. His works can be freely used for non-commercial purposes but if anyone wants to profit out of it, they’ll have to take permission from the Van Gogh Museum and pay a fee! So, those cool, aesthetic Starry Night shirts you’ve purchased might have been an IPR infringement.
If you’re a creator who’d like to protect yourself from the infringement of your rights, be sure to get yourself registered with your country, and expand it to other countries later on. Make sure to read up on your nation’s laws regarding IPR! If your rights have been infringed, there are numerous ways to make justice is served.
For everyone else, make sure you’re viewing the creators’ works legally, and try to support your favorite writers, artists, photographers in the best way, because no human rights can exist without property rights.