So if Vbulletin is making close to 50 million a year for example, and they wanted to start suing people that are using it illegally because it's hurting their profits, it still makes the case. It's not a matter of how much they are making or have grossed thus far. It's the amount of revenue they feel they have lost from potential profits.
So in the case of Transformers for example, if they feel they have lost close to 500 million dollars (or even $50 for that matter)...then it still makes the case as that is still a chunk of change. The same with Vbulletin. Vbulletin makes a chunk of change. Why would they continue to waste time and money trying to shut down illegal forums or those sharing illegal versions of VB? It's all the same in the end.
As for that study. If they were really 10x more likely to pay for it, then they wouldn't need to be downloading it illegally would they? Logic really flies out the window with that. Why pay for it, when you already have it free? I would say that study is horribly flawed.
Either way, pirating something just because you don't like the cost of it or believe everything in life should be free, is a poor excuse to do so. Remember that the next time someone steals something from you.
There is lots of logic to it, in my personal opinion because back in the late 90's I used P2P software and downloaded music.. I have NEVER bought so many cd's ever, as I did during the time I used it. Then I heard it was illegal and they started advertising all those ads with artists telling you not to DL P2P music so I stopped because I like to feel legit. haha. In the last 8 years I havent bought as many CD's as I did in that 18 months of P2P.... So what ever. Theres plenty of logic when I look at that perspective. You say they lost 500 million in revenue because of estimated pirated copies but what they fail to show is that they probably would have been down 750 million in revenue with out the pirates. LOL So, they are shooting themselves in the foot. One thing the P2P is good for is LOTS of exposure most people wouldnt even be subjected to.
Its long since been known that artists even pirate out there own stuff to gain popularity too, because some of them "get the logic" and know it in the end it will boost their sales.
06-16-2009, 10:36 PM
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