Hmm, semi disagree on that point. Laws are not absolute, they are just rules made by unperfect people. In this case, people who have lacking knowledge on the software industry, living in a world ruled by laws based on economies that existed 2000 years ago. Just because something is illegal doesn't make it morally/ethically/economically bad, it just makes it illegal period.

The basis of anti-piracy laws is that it leads to economic damage. But if the product is no longer sold, costs the distributer nothing when it's illegally copied, and/or is copied by people who either couldn't afford it anyway or wouldn't buy it in the first place, they lose nothing. Then it either turns to an argument "it's wrong because the law says so!" or "it's morally wrong". Both of which I disagree with.
Laws in themselves should be based on common sense, not the other way round, whilst morality... Well, that's just a can of worms. If a kid uses a pirated version of a 3d modelling software to gain enough experience to later get a job at a company that in turn does use legal versions of that software, I call it a good thing. I know a few people in the 3d industry, including some who made their own companies in the business, and they all started with pirated copies. Why? Because you cannot make a business out of nothing. They couldn't afford to use legal copies. They did however purchase legal copies once they could afford it- boom. Instant profit for the software company. Profit that would not be there had they not used shady copies to begin with. Just because this isn't possible when it comes to material products in 'the real world' due to those products costing something to make per piece on top of development fees doesn't make it wrong.


The entire software-related law section should be scrapped and written anew by people who know what it is about, right along with such stupidities as code patenting and other ideas that hamper creativity and only bring profit to big companies that can afford decade-long lawsuits that bankrupt their competition regardless of who is right.